Van der Vaart on HSV nights: “Smuggled bottle of wine into room” | OneFootball

Rafael van der Vaart has already told quite a few stories from his time at HSV. Quite often, curiosities off the pitch also play a role.

On the Bild podcast “Phrasenmäher”, the former playmaker once again offered an insight into his daily life as a professional. Among other things, he shared an amusing wine anecdote. “At HSV, after dinner, we players would always have one or two beers or glasses of wine with the coaching staff until around 10 p.m. — I always loved that,” van der Vaart recalled.

But apparently that was not always enough for the Dutchman. “And once we’d had one or two glasses, every now and then I wanted one or two more. Right-back Dennis Diekmeier and I would often smuggle a bottle back to the room — it was always great.”

Photo: IMAGO

Van der Vaart and Diekmeier played together at HSV from 2012 to 2015. Van der Vaart had returned to Hamburg in the summer of 2012, while Diekmeier had already been part of the squad since 2010. Side by side, they experienced a few turbulent years, including the dramatic second leg of the relegation playoff against Karlsruher SC in 2015.

HSV coach understood van der Vaart

One encounter with Patrick Rahmen in particular also stayed in van der Vaart’s memory in this context. The current head coach of FC Winterthur was Joe Zinnbauer’s assistant coach at the time. “One time he actually knocked on the door,” van der Vaart said. Shortly before that, he had learned that he would not be playing the next day and was accordingly “furious.”

But Rahmen apparently had not come to enforce lights out. “Patrick didn’t want to check on us — he had brought a bottle of wine himself and asked, ‘Boys, shall we have another glass together?’” Van der Vaart’s conclusion: “Patrick had a great feel for us and knew that it did us good.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.