15 years ago, the striker of Hamburger SV, Paolo Guerrero, ensures a scandal. Provoked by a fan, it can be carried away to an assault. The Hamburg bottle throw is a novelty in the history of the Bundesliga.
“Even if Guerrero has been provoked by a viewer, what also applies to the square applies to him: an athlete knows no revenge. If you don’t stick to it, you will be punished.” The DFB control committee chairman Anton Nachreiner reacted significantly to a case that had never existed in Bundesliga history: “I have no precedent in memory that something like this has already happened in Germany.” However, given the shocking incident, the subsequent punishment on the part of the DFB sports court found many a scandal. But what exactly happened on April 4th, 2010 in the Hamburg stadium?
It was the 29th matchday of the 2009/10 season. Hamburger SV played against the relegation candidate Hannover 96 at home. At that time it rumbled in the Hanseatic city. The severance payment was allegedly regulated to the trainer Bruno Labbadia. And Paolo Guerrero was able to help his coach in the season only to a limited extent, because after repeated unsuccessful attempts to get on a plane, the HSV striker had just returned to Hamburg from his home country. Because of his aviophobia (fear of flying), the Hamburgers had even sent a supervisor to South America to explore, on which one could bring the kicker – except with the plane – back to the Hanseatic city. After all, Paolo should fly.
For a moment there is a shock rigid
He had never been returned to Hamburg after his six -month injury break. Because Guerrero – and that is not entirely a certain comedy – had a muscle fiber tear at a sprint at a sprint at the airfield because he absolutely wanted to reach his plane. And so the game against Hannover 96 should be the sixth game of the Peruvian in the current round. But with the disappointing 0-0 against Hannover 96, like his teammates and also the opponent, he did little on this day after his substitution at the break.
Accordingly, the mood in the stadium and the Peruvian itself was bad. And when after the final whistle when going to the catacombs, a fan Paolo Guerrero also abused, all fuses burned through the HSV striker. Burned anger, Guerrero hurled a filled drinking bottle onto the stands with full force from the interior – and hit the mobbing trailer in the middle of the head. For a moment there was a shock rigid with the spectators, but then the wild insult between the fan hit and the Peruvian continued.
In view of the irritating images, HSV keeper Frank Rost reacted extremely strange when he said succinctly: “He hit well. The New York Yankees would like to sign him.” For rust it was clear: if you are boosting your own players in such a way, you just have to expect that something would come back. Paolo Guerrero himself said with a few days: “My behavior after the Hanover game was the biggest mistake of my career. But I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Guerrero meets in added time”
But of course the insight was too late to avert a punishment. The HSV reacted immediately and grumbled the – supposedly highest – internal punishment of all time to its player. At that time there was talk of 100,000 euros. In addition, the DFB Guerrero blocked for the rest of the season (5 games) and also made a fine of 20,000 euros. But it didn’t remain. The Hamburg-Altona district court also finished a fine of 100,000 euros (payable to a non-profit organization) and a two-year suspended sentence. Guerrero accepted everything without complaint – after the scandal, he was more about continuing his own career.
But first of all, the Peruvian had to endure the ridicule of the Internet community. And he had it all. However, mostly in a highly humorous way. For example, the football fans wrote: “Poor Paolo Guerrero was so desperate that he picked up to the bottle”, “Guerrero meets in added time” or “was the bottle that Paolo Guerrero thrown beforehand, was actually asked beforehand whether it suffers from fear of flying?”
The Hamburger SV, by the way, extended the expiring contract of its player by four more years just one month after the campaign. Paolo Guerrero, who “did not want to trivialize the action”, said: “It is a nice feeling when the HSV does not drop.” And the club’s fans also forgive their professional from Peru after a certain time. But after Guerrero flew off the pitch two years later after another crazy action – back against VfB keeper Sven Ulreich and was closed by the DFB for several weeks, his time in the Hanseatic city ended. In retrospect, a separation immediately after the bottle throw would have probably been the better and more understandable step two years earlier. Because how many football fans already warned at the time, the (mild) sentence of the DFB obviously had no greater effect.
