A few scars will remain: Toni Leistner will be given an honorable farewell at Hertha BSC

Hertha’s central defender Leistner, who came on as a substitute ten minutes before the end, was in the thick of things. And he did what he has done so many times. He – literally – held out his skull for Hertha. Not just once, but twice. Nothing special for Leistner himself, but business as usual.

“Heading the ball out twice: That doesn’t make the fish fat,” he said after his farewell from the Olympic Stadium, which ended happily thanks to his small contribution. The Berlin second division football team won 2-1, for the first time after a series of four games without a win. “I played a lot of games this season in which I proved myself,” said Leistner.

Nobody will seriously dispute that. Hertha has kept a clean sheet eleven times this season, and Toni Leistner was in the starting line-up in ten of these eleven games. “I do what I do best,” he said. “I think everyone knows that I’m not Leo Messi. But everyone can always expect 110 percent from me.”

Toni Leistner was, in his own way, a key player at Hertha BSC for three years, the first two even as captain. Nevertheless, his time at Hertha will end next weekend, when the Berliners have to play against Arminia Bielefeld on the last matchday of the season. At least as a player. “There is definitely melancholy,” said Leistner, “but also a lot of pride.”

At some point in the past few days he was asked to come to Hertha’s office and on this occasion he was informed that his expiring contract would not be extended. This decision came a bit out of nowhere after it had already been said that Leistner – even though he turns 36 in August – might still stick around for another season.

“There was no indication of that,” reported Hertha’s defender after the game against Fürth. And of course there is disappointment “because you have taken the club to your heart”. But he has to accept his decision. “I’m not going to sit down and try to convince the club otherwise.”

The other side, in the person of coach Stefan Leitl and sports director Benjamin Weber, was remarkably monosyllabic when asked about their personnel. Weber only said about the final conversation with Leistner: “It was short at that moment.” He then praised the angular central defender again for his passion, his intensity and his toughness in duels.

Maybe he’ll carry on after all

A banner hung at the exit from the field to the changing room area on Sunday. “Every scar tells of your fight. We are infinitely proud of you. Thank you Toni,” it said. Leistner has earned a lot of recognition with his style, not least among Hertha’s supporters. After his last home game for the club, he was celebrated extensively in front of the east curve.

Such an end was certainly not foreseeable three years ago. On the day of his first training session at Hertha, an Ultras banner hung on the driveway to the Olympic site. The message was clear: “Get the fuck out of our club!”

Leistner came as an ex-Union player. Now he leaves as a convinced Herthaner. He ended his short speech over the stadium loudspeakers with the statement: “Berlin is blue and white.” That, Leistner later explained, was now set in stone.

His connection to Hertha even went so far that Leistner declared some time ago that there would no longer be a club for him after Hertha and that he wanted to end his career here. But that no longer seems to be set in stone.

Even if the team missed the big goal of promotion to the Bundesliga: Leistner rates his own performance in his final season at Hertha as quite positive – if he just looks at how many clean sheets he was involved in. In addition, he did not miss a single training session due to injury. “I think there’s still something in the tank,” said Toni Leistner.