Four Dardais at Hertha, three from the summer. Pal Dardai spoke about this personnel matter and the Schalke clash on Friday.
The Dardai family is represented by several people at second division club Hertha BSC. In addition to coach Pal Dardai, his sons Márton Dárdai (central defense, contract until 2025), Palkó Dárdai (right winger, contract until 2026) and Bence Dárdai (attacking midfield, contract expires) are also in the Hertha squad.
One son will leave the Hertha family in the summer, with Bence Dárdai moving to VfL Wolfsburg on a free transfer, having decided against the BSC offer. Ahead of the home game against FC Schalke on Sunday (13:30), Berlin’s sporting director Benjamin Weber emphasized: “Bence has informed us that he will be leaving the club. It is legitimate for a player to decide to take a different path. But we are disappointed, of course. We have tried to convince him of our path.”
Coach Pal Dardai explained his view of things: “It hurts as a coach too, it’s fun to watch the boy play. But I think it’s okay that he’s made his decision. As a father I have to support him, as a coach I have to think about winning. That’s how I’ll make my decisions in the future too.”
The coach added that the offer was completely within reason: “I have to praise Benny, I have to praise Hertha – it was a very fair, very convincing offer. His brothers, his mom, everyone tried to convince him. “
It was a very fair, very convincing offer. His brothers, his mom, everyone tried to convince him
Pal Dardai
Nevertheless, he is now on his farewell tour with Hertha, for whom he has played eight games so far this season. Mission number nine could follow against Schalke.
Dardai describes the opponents as follows: “Schalke have a physical team, attack all over the pitch and go for a lot of second balls. They’ve got back to the core of their game. We have to defend forwards and be active – do what didn’t work at FC St. Pauli.”
He will be without former Schalke player Jonjoe Kenny (5th yellow card) and Agustin Rogel (recovery training after knee surgery). Weber is looking ahead: “The aim is to play a decent game on Sunday and win. We’ve put last Sunday’s game behind us. We’re focusing on ourselves, we’ve got a fantastic setting in the Olympiastadion. “