Deniz Undav on Composure and the Berlin Final
Deniz Undav talks about goals the way a craftsman talks about his tools. Not with romance, but with precision.
“Composure in front of goal is very important for strikers because it makes your shots more accurate,” the VfB Stuttgart forward explains. “If you drill that every day, you become ice-cold. If I had a bit more of that, I'd surely finish more chances.”
It is an honest admission from a striker preparing for the biggest domestic game of his career. Saturday’s final in Berlin pits the defending champions against the dominant force of German football. On paper, it is a mismatch. Undav has no interest in dressing it up.
“In Saturday's Berlin final, the defending champions are complete underdogs against the record winners,” the 29-year-old says. “Bayern are the clear favourites, and there's no point pretending otherwise.”
He pauses, then leans into the one truth cup finals always protect.
“Still, anything can happen in a single game. We know we can disrupt them, unsettle them. We'll give it our all.”
That belief, that thin line between realism and defiance, is where Stuttgart’s hope lives. Bayern bring the weight of history; Stuttgart bring rhythm, cohesion and a striker who has turned himself into a ruthless presence in the box by repetition and detail. Undav’s talk of composure is not theory. It is his daily work.
Underdogs with an appetite
Around this final, Stuttgart have built something more down-to-earth: a ritual that belongs to them, not to the record champions.
After the match, win or lose, the squad will stay together in Berlin. If they win, the celebration will be as German as it is unpretentious: a “victory kebab”.
It started here, in this city, and stuck.
“After the match, the squad will celebrate with a victory kebab—a tradition that began in Berlin,” Undav says. “If we win, everyone's having a kebab. I'll watch a few YouTube videos about the top five kebabs in Berlin and decide which one I like.”
No champagne-soaked VIP lounges. No velvet ropes. Just a group of players, a trophy if things go right, and a late-night hunt for the best kebab in the capital. It fits this Stuttgart side: serious on the pitch, human off it.
Berlin, then the world
Once the kebab is eaten and the final whistle consigned to history, Undav’s horizon widens quickly.
After Berlin, he joins up with Germany for the World Cup. His rise has carried him from battling for recognition to wearing the national shirt, and now to a tournament on the biggest stage. He might arrive there with more than just momentum.
He could also be carrying a new VfB contract in his luggage.
“There's no reason why not,” he says when asked about extending his stay. “I've said many times that I enjoy playing here; I feel at home. I feel like a Stuttgart native, even if I'm not one. We're not far apart; it's just the small details.”
Those “small details” often decide games, careers, and contracts. Undav knows that better than most. A fraction more composure, one cleaner finish, a run timed half a second earlier – that is the difference between a nearly season and a legendary one.
On Saturday in Berlin, with Bayern looming and the odds stacked, those details will matter again. If he gets them right, the underdogs might just leave the capital with a trophy, a new deal on the horizon, and a kebab that tastes like something far richer.
