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Union cheers, Hertha is frustrated.
You get used to the picture
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CLEMENS BILAN v EPA
Before the game, Hertha BSC still had a point win against their city rivals to report.
The club's social media account proudly announced that vegan sausages would also be available for consumption in the Olympic Stadium.
Union President Dirk Zingler recently made disparaging remarks about this food, triggering the expected shitstorm on the internet.
However, that was the end of Hertha's advantages that evening.
When it really came down to the sausage, 1. FC Union was superior in all respects with the 3:2 (1:0) away win.
You had suspected it beforehand, but since that evening at the latest it has been clear that conditions in the capital have changed permanently.
Union Berlin is number one in the city.
And it may stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Nine points clear in the league
Last year, when Union was ahead of Hertha for the first time in the Bundesliga, almost everyone was still talking about a snapshot, at Hertha anyway, but also at Union.
The moment is about to take on duration.
And both sides are responsible for that.
In the Bundesliga, the Köpenicker currently have nine points and eight places between them and Hertha, the first round game in the Alte Försterei was a clear affair.
Wednesday evening made it clear to everyone, not just the 3,000 spectators in the room that was as wide as it was empty, how appropriately this reflects the sporting situation of both clubs.
On the one hand, a Union team in which things interlock, in which a system always seems to be recognizable, with a keen sense of the weaknesses of the hosts.
"We played very well behind the Hertha chain, we knew how high they are," summed up Max Kruse, the usual reliable assist provider, after the game.
Again and again, the Union ran over Hertha on the wings, caught Tayfun Korkut's eleven on their open flanks.
Purposeful, with the clear idea of going for goal, that has always been a maxim at Union under Urs Fischer.
At Union there are no squiggles, no playing around, in Köpenick the target game football is cultivated.
Bobic fights against expectations
On the other hand, Hertha presented itself that lacks all these qualities.
So much is random with her, there is no structure, and when you know how much has changed around the squad in recent years, it's perhaps no wonder.
All hopes were pinned on Fredi Bobic, the club's preferred candidate as manager.
The sporting director himself has tried to tone down those expectations from the start, and now one is inclined to agree that he was right.
The Windhorst millions that promised quick success have now become more of a burden.
In the days before the derby, Bobic was preaching how tight Hertha's financial leeway was.
"You're coming to Berlin, a lot of things didn't work there before," he described the situation on Wednesday, before adding: "It probably takes time."
It moves a lot, but not forward
In fact, not much has improved, with Pál Dárdai, the coach who started the season, is no longer on board.
The former Sky manager Carsten Schmidt, who was regarded as the strong man, also left the management after a year.
Sports director Arne Friedrich has withdrawn more and more from the front row.
In the winter, the record transfer from the Klinsmann period, Krzysztof Piątek, was handed over to Fiorentina.
There's a lot of movement in Berlin, but it's not moving forward.
The new coach Korkut has already been received with great skepticism in Berlin.
He has been out of business for years, even before that he had no real success to show for himself.
So far he hasn't managed to give the team any structure visible on the pitch.
Victory over BVB as a flash in the pan
Before Christmas, they believed in a trend reversal in the Westend when a strong Hertha team defeated Borussia Dortmund.
So far it has been a flash in the pan, Hertha is still on the verge of relegation, four points ahead of 17th place.
On Wednesday, a good footballing, staid squad could be seen, the shine that Windhorst and his extended arm Jürgen Klinsmann should give the team with players like Matheus Cunha, Arsenal loan Matteo Guendouzi and Piatek has long since fizzled out with no effect, all three are no longer there, and Kevin-Prince Boateng, at 35, is now more likely to appear from the outside than to help the team on the pitch.
All of this promoted the change of power in the capital, but the intelligent development work in Köpenick should not be underestimated.
Fischer and manager Oliver Ruhnert have gathered a squad of seasoned Bundesliga professionals around them.
Anyone who may have wondered what prompted Union to lure a 30-year-old and not particularly agile striker from Arminia Bielefeld to Berlin will be very quiet after Andreas Voglsammer's 1-0.
You haven't seen anyone score more acrobatic in the Olympic Stadium for a long time.
When the Unioners celebrated in front of the 200 fans after the final whistle, who still considered the Corona regulations for Berlin to be permissible, Frank Zander sang his club anthem "Nur we're not going home" again via the stadium management, and it sounded appropriately melancholic .
So true: Hertha will not be celebrating the cup final at home this year either.