Teams | March 26, 2014 at 02:38 PM
Hertha BSC lose to newly-crowned champions
Hertha BSC lose to newly-crowned champions
Jos Luhukay's side lost 1-3 against new Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.
Berlin - On Tuesday night (25.03.14), Hertha BSC lost 1-3 at home to Bayern Munich, in front of a sell out crowd (76.197) at the Olympic stadium in Berlin on Bundesliga matchday 27. The victory saw the Bavarian giants crowned the earliest ever Bundesliga champions in a season. Home coach Jos Luhukay made five changes to his team which lost 0-1 against Borussia Mönchengladbach at the weekend: Langkamp (suspended), Allagui, Ben-Hatira (didn't make the squad), Niemeyer and Ronny (both on the bench at first) were replaced by Nico Schulz on the left opposite Per Skjelbred. Christoph Janker played in central defence while Levan Kobiashvili lined up in front of the back four. Hany Mukhtar got his first start in attacking midfield. The reigning treble-winners of last season sent a full strentgth side out in an effort to clinch the Bundesliga title at the earliest-ever time. Mario Mandzukic and Franck Ribery were on the bench at first, as was Thiago. But everyone knows of Bayern's strength in depth.
Bayern combined impressively from the off and were on top in no time, taking the lead with their first real chance of the game. On 6 minutes a pass into the Hertha box by Thomas Müller was deflected into the path of Toni Kroos, who made no mistake in firing the visitors ahead. Two minutes later home keeper Thomas Kraft managed to block an effort by Marion Götze, but was powerless as Bayern doubled their lead as Götze nodded home a cross by Bastian Schweisteiger (14.). At the other end a promising move saw Kobiashvili cross onto the head of Hertha top scorer Adrian Ramos, but the latter was ruled offside (19.).
Fantastic home support
Hertha began to feature for the first time midway through the opening half. On 31 minutes Kobiashvili tried a shot from distance, but didn't strike the ball properly and his effort flew well wide of goal. Every time Bayern mounted an attack they looked dangerous. Götze reached the byline from where he crossed into the middle where Müller was lurking but he could only head the ball onto the undeside of the crossbar but not in (38.). Then Ramos won possession in midfield, but the Columbian was thwarted by a timely challenge by Bayern skipper Philipp Lahm as he tried to reach the return ball from Mukhtar (42.). Bayern had a further chance to make it 3-0 on the stroke of halftime, but Müller lobbed the ball over Kraft but also over the goal (45.). The visitors led 2-0 at the break.
There were no changes to the teams during the break. On 50 minutes Ramos and Mukhtar combined nicely to find Schulz, whose cross into the Munich box found no takers. Not long afterwards Schulz got a shot away from distance, but the effort failed to raise the heartbeat of visiting keeper Manuel Neuer (54.). Schulz was involved again four minutes later but Skjelbred could not convert his pass into the area (58.). Hertha remained harmless in front of goal - unlike Bayern: Substitute Mandzukic forced Kraft into a save at his near post, the Berlin stopper cleared the danger using his right boot (61.). David Alaba fired wide of the top right hand corner (62.). Peter Niemeyer replaced Kobiashvili in front of Hertha's back four.
Ramos pulls a goal back
Despite the introduction of Ribery and Thiago by Bayern's super star coach Pep Guardiola Hertha managed to pull a goal back. Rafinha prevented Ramos from reaching a Pekarik cross inside the Bayern box and the home side were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Ramos to fire the ball into the middle of the goal for his 16th of the season (67.). The home crowd got right behind the team and Luhukay brought on Ronny for Mukhtar in a final throw of the dice. Bayern continued to press forward, and following a long ball by Lahn Götze fired the ball well over the bar (77.). Ribery went one better two minutes later, chipping the ball over Kraft from an acute angle to make it 3-1 to Bayern (79.). Sandro Wagner was brought on to replace Ramos near the end of the game.
There were no further goals scored so Bayern ran out the deserved 3-1 winners. Bayern extended their extraordinary unbeaten run to 52 matches, while securing the Bundesliga title in the shortest ever time. While Bayern celebrated, Hertha fans also celebrated the efforts of their team against probably the best club side in the world. Hertha play again on Friday night(28.03.14, 8.30 pm) as Luhukay and his men travel to the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen where Schalke await to lock horns with them on matchday 28.
Bayern combined impressively from the off and were on top in no time, taking the lead with their first real chance of the game. On 6 minutes a pass into the Hertha box by Thomas Müller was deflected into the path of Toni Kroos, who made no mistake in firing the visitors ahead. Two minutes later home keeper Thomas Kraft managed to block an effort by Marion Götze, but was powerless as Bayern doubled their lead as Götze nodded home a cross by Bastian Schweisteiger (14.). At the other end a promising move saw Kobiashvili cross onto the head of Hertha top scorer Adrian Ramos, but the latter was ruled offside (19.).
Fantastic home support
Hertha began to feature for the first time midway through the opening half. On 31 minutes Kobiashvili tried a shot from distance, but didn't strike the ball properly and his effort flew well wide of goal. Every time Bayern mounted an attack they looked dangerous. Götze reached the byline from where he crossed into the middle where Müller was lurking but he could only head the ball onto the undeside of the crossbar but not in (38.). Then Ramos won possession in midfield, but the Columbian was thwarted by a timely challenge by Bayern skipper Philipp Lahm as he tried to reach the return ball from Mukhtar (42.). Bayern had a further chance to make it 3-0 on the stroke of halftime, but Müller lobbed the ball over Kraft but also over the goal (45.). The visitors led 2-0 at the break.
There were no changes to the teams during the break. On 50 minutes Ramos and Mukhtar combined nicely to find Schulz, whose cross into the Munich box found no takers. Not long afterwards Schulz got a shot away from distance, but the effort failed to raise the heartbeat of visiting keeper Manuel Neuer (54.). Schulz was involved again four minutes later but Skjelbred could not convert his pass into the area (58.). Hertha remained harmless in front of goal - unlike Bayern: Substitute Mandzukic forced Kraft into a save at his near post, the Berlin stopper cleared the danger using his right boot (61.). David Alaba fired wide of the top right hand corner (62.). Peter Niemeyer replaced Kobiashvili in front of Hertha's back four.
Ramos pulls a goal back
Despite the introduction of Ribery and Thiago by Bayern's super star coach Pep Guardiola Hertha managed to pull a goal back. Rafinha prevented Ramos from reaching a Pekarik cross inside the Bayern box and the home side were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Ramos to fire the ball into the middle of the goal for his 16th of the season (67.). The home crowd got right behind the team and Luhukay brought on Ronny for Mukhtar in a final throw of the dice. Bayern continued to press forward, and following a long ball by Lahn Götze fired the ball well over the bar (77.). Ribery went one better two minutes later, chipping the ball over Kraft from an acute angle to make it 3-1 to Bayern (79.). Sandro Wagner was brought on to replace Ramos near the end of the game.
There were no further goals scored so Bayern ran out the deserved 3-1 winners. Bayern extended their extraordinary unbeaten run to 52 matches, while securing the Bundesliga title in the shortest ever time. While Bayern celebrated, Hertha fans also celebrated the efforts of their team against probably the best club side in the world. Hertha play again on Friday night(28.03.14, 8.30 pm) as Luhukay and his men travel to the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen where Schalke await to lock horns with them on matchday 28.