Veteran manager Felix Magath says he entrusted Kevin-Prince Boateng with Hertha Berlin in the second leg of the Bundesliga promotion-relegation playoffs because of the player’s experience.
Boateng named the starting eleven as well as gave the coaches’ speech before the second leg of the playoffs against Hamburg. Hertha Berlin ended up staying in the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win.
“Unlike other coaching colleagues, I’ve always kept some emotional distance from the players because I said: I want to be able to make decisions as objectively as possible,” Magath told the Swiss tabloid Blick.
“It would not occur to me to ask a player who has just turned professional how he judges the team. But of course I exchange ideas with the experienced ones,” he added.
“That’s why Boateng was such an important contact for me, because he was simply the greatest personality with the most experience,” he concluded.
Magath came out of retirement to help the club stay up. He resigned after achieving his objective.
Kevin-Prince Boateng’s contract with the German’s ends in June.
