Derby is a battle of contrasts in approach, spending and success

Ahead of the latest installment of the Berlin derby, ESPN’s lead Bundesliga commentator Derek Rae says Union have outdone their capital rivals through shrewd football economics and squad building on a smaller budget, but sustaining that over many years might be a much bigger challenge.

On Saturday night, Hertha Berlin host Union Berlin at the Olympiastadion in a German capital showdown certain to be highly charged. This is only the third season in which the two former friends, turned foes, have found themselves participating together in the Bundesliga, and their latest encounter takes place on Saturday (12:20 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+).

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Following Union’s move up to the Oberhaus in 2019, the narrative was meant to be the little corner grocery shop trying, but likely struggling, to take on the bigger, richer supermarket to their west. Instead, Union have demonstrated that efficient use of the cash register — as well as astute scouting — can take you places. Hertha fans, meanwhile, are wishing major investor Lars Windhorst had kept his mouth shut about the notion of a “Big City Club” when he arrived in 2019.

Windhorst, a successful businessman and entrepreneur, initially invested by purchasing a 37.5% share of the Hertha operating company, Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. KGaA. He then bought more and more shares, apparently lured by the prospect of awakening a sleeping giant, but his involvement has coincided with utter chaos at the club and a series of dubious sporting decisions. The nadir was the winter of the 2019-20 season, when the club paid AC Milan a €26.4 million transfer fee for Poland striker Krzysztof Piatek, who has been an expensive disappointment. Consider other recent examples of crazy transfer fees — €27.5m for Lucas Tousart, €22m for Dodi Lukebakio — set against the grain of more modest outlays elsewhere in…