Hartel: "A special game for me"
Wednesday, 20. March 2024, 08:00 Uhr
Marcel Hartel made his 100th competitive appearance for the club last Saturday. It was a special game for the 28-year-old midfielder, and one that saw him reach another milestone, as his goal to seal a 2-0 victory was his 25th for the Boys in Brown.
Cello, as he is affectionately known, brought up his century of appearances on his 91st league outing at FC Nürnberg, to which can be added another nine in the DFB Cup. "I'm obviously very proud. St. Pauli is the first club where I've reached that number. It was a special game for me, so I was even happier that we put in a good performance and took all three points."
A "flexible, hard‑working midfielder" was how Andreas Bornemann described the Cologne native when he signed him from Arminia Bielefeld in August 2021. And Cello's first competitive appearance proved an extra-special one, coming as it did on Matchday 3 of the 2021/22 campaign when the Boys in Brown beat HSV 3-2 at the Millerntor thanks to goals from Finn Ole Becker and Simon Makienok (2). Hartel featured from start to finish and remembers it like it was yesterday: "To make my bow in the crosstown derby and win the game was very special. You don't forget things like that. It'll always be a special moment in my heart."
Marcel Hartel made his first competitive appearance for the club against HSV at the Millerntor, which ended 3-2 to the Boys in Brown.
Few were able to match the 12.51 kilometres he ran that day, the first of many from the midfielder that season. "You might not believe me, but I don't really enjoy running that much," the marathon man admits with a grin. "I often curse when I see jogging on the personal workout plan in preparation for the start of training, but I simply have this gift of being able to run long and hard. And when it comes to matchday, I put myself at the service of the team. I don't think about how much I run then, I just try to give my all. Putting in the metres is a part of that, and you end up with a few more kilometres to your name." That said, doing a marathon when he retires is not something he's considering at the moment.
The pattern remained very much the same the following season. Only the shirt number was different – 30 was swapped for 10. And no one covered more distance in the second division during that campaign. Hartel clocked up a total of 418 kilometres, an average of 12.4 kilometres per game, stats the vice-captain is matching at the moment. His legs carried him more than 12 kilometres around the pitch on his century-making appearance at the Max Morlock Stadium and, midway through the second half, right into the Nürnberg penalty box, where he scored the second goal of the day.
Marcel Hartel celebrates after making it 2-0 at Nürnberg.
On the subject of Nürnberg, Hartel has missed just one of a total of 101 possible appearances since making his debut. It came on 29 April 2022, when he took his seat in the stand due to a one-match ban and saw his teammates play out a 1-1 home draw against – you guessed it – FC Nürnberg. He was very much involved on Saturday, though, getting on the scoresheet yet again to take his tally for the season to 14 league goals and 10 assists and secure his place at the head of the second division rankings. Hartel will be looking to continue his goalscoring form in the remaining games this season, preferably on Easter Sunday, when the campaign resumes after the international break and SC Paderborn are the visitors to the Millerntor.
Photos: Witters/FC St. Pauli
