Christoph Menz’s nerves were on edge. At the beginning of the second half, a treatment by Leon Bätge probably took too long for him, which tempted him to run to the opposing goal and put some pressure on the goalkeeper of VSG Altglienicke. Lucky for him that referee Pascal Wien left it with a yellow card. Afterwards, the captain of Viktoria 89 was treated to persistent whistles and boos. In the end, that shouldn’t have mattered to him, because his team was able to celebrate a 2-1 (0-1) victory with two goals in added time and thus winning the Berlin Cup after falling behind.
“Last week we saw that we weren’t happy, and that’s why I’m overjoyed that the boys got their reward again today,” said Farat Toku, who also had something to announce at the press conference after the game. “I have decided not to coach Viktoria Berlin next year. It was a very intense and also a very nice time, but I have now made this decision for myself.”
Altglienicke had brought a large block of fans with him and immediately after the kick-off the chants of “Here reigns the VSG” could be heard from the Mommsen Stadium, which was filled with 1215 spectators. On the pitch, however, a completely different picture emerged. Just a week after being relegated from the Third Division, Toku’s team put on a dedicated performance. Above all, the agile Moritz Seiffert on the right flank kept starting from deep and was often sought out with long balls in the early minutes. Viktoria got the first good chance of the game in the tenth minute after a corner by Enes Küc. The cross came dangerously in front of the goal and could only be clarified by Altglienicke’s defense high up in the middle, where Björn Jopek was lurking, whose shot with the right went just over the crossbar.
As the game progressed, Viktoria had more possession of the ball and had another opportunity through defender Jakob Lewald, when he suddenly appeared on the left of the penalty area, rounded Bätge in the box and then missed the empty goal. After that, only Viktoria continued to play, while Karsten Heine’s team lurked for chances and tried to put their fast strikers in the limelight with long balls – but this was mostly prevented by Viktoria’s strong defense.
Shortly before the half-time break, Altglienicke then tried to put some pressure on, which should pay off immediately. In the 41st minute, captain Stephan Brehmer hit a nice cross from the left diagonally into the sixteen, the ball got longer and longer and finally found Tugay Uzan at the far post, who skilfully went over and against the direction of Viktoria goalkeeper Philip Sprint to the left into the corner headed in Viktoria looked visibly impressed and was lucky when a shot from Altglienicke’s Florijon Belegu from close range was defused by Sprint just a minute after the opening goal.
Both teams returned unchanged from the dressing room, Viktoria immediately pushed for an equalizer and Christopher Theisen had a double chance in the 51st minute, but it went unused. Ten minutes later it was Küc who dribbled towards the goal alone after a long ball, but failed to do so because of Bätge. This chance was to be the last one for Toku’s team for a long time, because only Altglienicke was in danger of scoring as a result. The regional league team had a few good opportunities to make it 2-0, but couldn’t take advantage of them. And that should pay off.
Six minutes of stoppage time were announced when Tim Häußler saw yellow-red and Altglienicke had to finish the remaining time outnumbered. Viktoria then threw everything forward and after a stab in the penalty area, the ball finally landed with Lukas Pinckert, who scored in the 92nd minute with a powerful right-footed shot into the bottom left corner for a much-celebrated equalizer.
But that’s not all: In the last minute of stoppage time, Soufian Benyamina got through on the left wing against Philipp indicator and hit the goal through the legs of the approaching Bätge – and this time it was Altglienicke’s players who were shocked. After that it was over in the Mommsen Stadium and Viktoria finally had something to celebrate this season.
“I think the win is absolutely deserved, even if we were lucky with two chances in the second half that Altglienicke didn’t make it 2-0,” said Toku, who was able to say goodbye with the title in a halfway forgiving way.
