Luke Littler was subjected to more boos as the Premier League rolled into Berlin for Night Eight, with the hostile atmosphere making itself known from the very beginning. The animosity inside the arena was immediately clear when ‘The Nuke’ was being introduced to the stage for his quarter-final clash against firm crowd favourite Stephen Bunting.
However, Littler showed no sign of letting the reaction affect him as he made his way onto the stage with a stern look and a composed, focused manner. The Manchester United fan responded in the best possible way — by delivering a brilliant performance — and gave absolutely no reaction to the murmurs of jeering that continued to echo around the venue as he wrapped up an impressive 6–3 victory.
‘The Nuke’ burst out of the blocks and raced into a commanding 4–0 lead, putting Bunting under immediate pressure. Eventually, ‘The Bullet’ managed to stop the rot in spectacular fashion, producing a stunning 167 checkout to deservedly get himself on the board at the fifth time of asking. He then followed that up by holding his throw to claim a second leg after Littler narrowly missed the bullseye when attempting a 170 finish.
‘The Bullet’ then held his throw to win that second leg after Littler missed the bullseye at 170, continuing to show resilience despite being behind. But Littler remained in control overall and powered across the finish line, sealing the win with a superb 104.73 average — an impressive figure made even more notable by the fact that Bunting averaged a remarkable 107.47 in defeat.
Littler has made no secret of his distaste for playing in Germany. The back-to-back world champion has openly criticised the behaviour of German crowds on several occasions, and he has even gone as far as suggesting he could refuse to play in the country again if the situation did not improve.
Ahead of the PDC World Cup of Darts last year, Littler hinted that he might boycott the event in Frankfurt following his earlier defeat at the German Darts Grand Prix. He suggested that he would not return to compete in Germany until the European Championship Darts later in the year.
He said at the time: “Shouldn’t have been in Munich but had to play anyway, next one in Germany for me is Dortmund and I am glad to say that.”
Despite those comments, Littler did ultimately take part in the World Cup alongside Luke Humphries. However, the world No.1 and No.2 endured a disappointing outing, as they were quickly sent packing and found themselves back on a plane home after suffering defeat to Germany in their opening match.
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