“You dream as a kid about those moments”

Before the home game against Freiburg, Vedad Ibisevic spoke in an interview about the excellent atmosphere in the Olympiastadion, modest expectations and how unpredictable football is.

The man is a phenomenon. Vedad Ibisevic celebrated his 34th birthday over the Summer in Schladming. A few weeks later, he was nicely named one of the ‘Grandfathers’ of the team by head coach Pál Dárdai. Since then, the Bosnian has proved he a pretty effective grandfather. Against FC Bayern, the captain scored the penalty to put Hertha 1-0 up. The penalty was followed by a jump over the advertising boards and then exuberant celebrations with fans and teammates.

For the Dárdai’s team, the veteran may be more important than ever. The player himself would not have known how well he would have been doing. But now the Bundesliga is back after the international break with Hertha in third, not least thanks to four goals from Ibisevic. Vedad Ibisevic spoke to herthabsc.de about the excellent atmosphere in the Olympiastadion, modest expectations and how unpredictable football is.

herthabsc.de: Do you believe in fortune, Vedad?

Ibisevic: (deliberates) Long term? No.

herthabsc.de: Your last six goals have been at the Olympiastadion. With your age you are still doing extremely well to score goals...

Ibisevic: Still going strong!

herthabsc.de: ...You often celebrate in the direction of the east side of the stadium like your recent goal against FC Bayern. What is it like to celebrate with the fans?

Ibisevic: It is simply the coolest feeling. As a youngster it is what you dream about. I don’t know whether it is the same dream as the boys have today as times have changed. But it was always my dream to become a footballer and celebrate with the fans. It is all about togetherness. We have an excellent atmosphere in our stadium and it is always fun to celebrate in the East side. Therefore I have no problem with celebrating there every time I score.

herthabsc.de: At your training ground in Schladming, your good mate Salomon Kalou said, “I am like a good wine; with age I become better.”Is that the same with you?

Ibisevic: In hindsight it is always easy to judge like that. (grins) But we are getting older and we have to fight every day to stay fit. At the same time we have experience, which is something you cannot train.

herthabsc.de: You are currently well on track to have your best season in a Hertha shirt since arriving over three years ago. After the 2016/17 season you had12 goals and 6 assists to your name. How much do you have left in the tank?

Ibisevic: It's not my primary aim to score more goals than two years ago. I've never set such aims in my entire career. I know how unpredictable football can be.

herthabsc.de: Hertha qualified for the UEFA Europa League at the end of the aforementioned season. What is possible for this season?

Ibisevic: We have been advised not to think too hard on what we can achieve after such a small part of the season. Since I have been at Hertha, we have been in this situation twice where we made a super start to the season and sustained our form into the winter months. However we couldn’t see out the rest of the season. There is always the second half of the season to play and for a majority of teams, it is all about sustaining good form for the entire season.

herthabsc.de: At the very least, you have made a very strong start to the season not only as a team, but also from you individually. What qualities do your team possess?

Ibisevic: Without a doubt, we gained a couple of young players who possess real quality and have already made the breakthrough into the squad so far this season. We didn’t actually know before the season started where we were as a squad and we were afraid of making a slow start to the season. We have come together as a team and this experience has helped us as a team.

herthabsc.de: Before the season started, you said that it was difficult to assess how strong a squad is and how unpredictable it can be when you have lots of youngsters in a squad. You consequently said that you cannot expect young players to have an enormous impact on the team. How have you been influenced in the first months by the likes of Javairo Dilrosun? Before he came to Berlin...

Ibisevic: (interrupts) With Jeff you can see immediately in training what he can bring to the team. It was not expected that he would be able to show and implement this right away in the Bundesliga as well. The boy simply has a lot of potential and quality - that's something you have seen already this season. But you also have to say, and of course this also applies to our other young players, that you cannot expect them to go through the entire season like this. There will be downs and we will have to help them as a team in those moments.

herthabsc.de: Let's see how good your memory is. What memories do you have from the 10th November 2013?

Ibisevic: (thinks for a long time) Did I get a red card? (laughs) No I have no idea...

Herthabsc.de: That was the day you last played against DC Freiburg which was for VfB Stuttgart at the time. You have never beaten them in a Hertha jersey.

Ibisevic: I hope that on Sunday (21/10/18, 15:30 CEST) that will change! The statistic speaks for itself and shows that they will be a difficult team to beat. We just have to do what it takes to beat them, no matter who scores.