Tim Wiese had an unforgettable evening ten years ago today. The game had been built up a lot, even by the man himself: “HSV are more scared of us than we are of them. If we get at them in the first game, they’ll crumble.” The game was the first of a legendary four Nordderby games in 19 days. Werder began with an away victory in the DFB-Pokal. Wiese was the hero.
Tim Wiese broke the hearts of over 40,000 Hamburg fans in the Volksparkstadion. An action-packed Nordderby went on for 120 minutes. Per Mertesacker put Werder ahead in the 11th minute before Ivica Olic equalised in the 67th minute to send the game to extra time.
David Jarolim was sent off just before the end of 90 minutes, and Wiese had to make a flying tackle save to deny Jonathan Pitroipa in the 120th minute.
The penalties took place in front of the HSV fans. Tim Wiese was already disliked by the them, not least after kung-fu kicking Ivica Olic in 2008. Franz Beckenbauer later described it as an attempt at murder. He also said: “And then they threw their lighters at me – but they didn’t hit me!”
We went into the game as underdogs and played a great matchTim Wiese after the semi-final win in 2009
Wiese backed up his words with a memorable performance. After HSV captain Joris Mathijsen converted the first penalty, Wiese stopped shots from Jerome Boateng, Ivica Olic and Marcell Jansen. Werder’s Claudio Pizarro, Mesut Özil and Torsten Frings all scored from the spot, and the rest was pure joy.
Together with his teammates, Wiese sprinted 110 meters across the pitch to celebrate in front of the Werder fans. What followed was one of the most memorable celebrations in club history. “We came into the match as outsiders and played a great game,” Wiese said about his team’s 4-2 victory after penalties. Werder made good on their move into the final, defeating Bayer Leverkusen 1-0. It was the club’s last title to date.
Perhaps no other Werder player has embraced the spirit of the rivalry as much as Tim Wiese, who became the hero of one of the most memorable Nordderby’s to date. Just 19 days after the semi-final, the keeper was fined nearly €10,000 for joining in on anti-HSV chants. “That wasn’t okay,” Wiese later admitted. But, he’d much rather focus on the highlights of the 14 Nordderbys he took part in, like the time he stopped three penalty shots in Hamburg ten years ago.
