Teams | May 11, 2014 at 11:27 AM
No joy in final game of Kobi and Ramos
No joy in final game of Kobi and Ramos
Borussia Dortmund beat Hertha BSC 4-0 at the sold out Olympic stadium.
Berlin - Levan Kobiashvili and Adrian Ramos played their last game for Hertha BSC on Saturday afternoon (10.05.14). But the farewell was tinged with bitterness, as the home side lost 0-4 on the final day of the 2013/14 Bundesliga season. Levan Kobiashvili started the game, while Dortmund bound Ramos was on the bench at first, alongside Van den Bergh and Ronny - whose place went to Hany Mukhtar. Sandro Wagner began up front as sole Berlin striker. Visiting coach Jürgen Klopp made just one change to his side from last weekend. Manuel Friedrich got the nod ahead of Sokratis.
With nothing to lose for both sides the game began brightly. The first goalmouth action came from Borussia, but a third minute shot on the turn by Henrikh Mkhitaryan was easily dealt with by home keeper Kraft. Things became much more dangerous at the other end as it took a last ditch goal line headed clearance by Nuri Sahin to deny Wagner with Dortmund stopper Weidenfeller beaten (6.). The Bundesliga runners up had more possession but the home defence did well early on.
Double whammy edges visitors ahead
Home coach Jos Luhukay waxs forced into a change after half an hour, as Johannes van den Bergh replaced Skjelbred who limped off with a thigh injury. Van den Bergh slotted in at left back while Pekarik played on the right with Ndjeng moving into Skjelbred's spot further up the pitch. Hany Mukhtar initiated a few moves but as has been so often the case this season the final telling pass was missing from Hertha's game. Dortmund finally found a way through the Berlin defence shortly before the break. On 41 minutes Mats Hummels found danger man Robert Lewandowski with a through ball while the prolific Pole looked to be offside. Hertha protests were waved away and the Bayern-bound hit man scored his 19th goal of the season making him the top scorer in the Bundesliga (41.). Dortmund doubled their lead only three minutes later as Milos Jojic cut in from the right before curling a fine shot past Kraft and into the far corner of the net (44.). Borussia led 2-0 at halftime.
The action continued right after the opening whistle. The new half was less than a minute old as Germany star Reus latched onto a diagonal ball from Lewandowski, only to blaze the ball well over the crossbar. On 47 minutes Schulz breezed past former Hertha man Lukasz Piszczek, but his low ball inside was cleared away for a corner by the visitors (47.). Then Jojic could have scored his second, but his shot struck Kraft before flying over goal (48.). Luhukay had to make a further chance after around an hour, as Langkamp signalled to the bench that he could not carry on. He was replaced by Peter Niemeyer. Kobiashvili had a shot from 20 metres blocked (60.), before Wagner had to settle for a corner kick following a shot from a tight angle (62.).
Fitting send off for Levan Kobiashvili
Then things became emotional as captain for the day Levan Kobiashvili left the pitch for the final time before hanging his playing boots up. The whole stadium rose to give him a rousing send off. he was replaced by Ramos for the final 30 minutes. Hertha continued to move forward and on 63 minutes Ndjeng nailed a fierce effort onto Weidenfeller's crossbar (63.). Then it was the turn of Ramos to threaten. The visiting defence cleared a ball away for a corner, from which Ramos forced a stunning reflex save from Weidenfeller, who this week made Germany's provisional World Cup squad of announced this week (68.). But the visitors once again struck twice to finally put the game to bed. Ten minutes from time a soft free kick was fired into the top corner by Lewandowski, who moments later forced a clearance from Kraft, which only found Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose shot was deflected home via Mkhitaryan to make it 4-0 to Dortmund (82.).
The result was always going to be only a secondary thought for both teams. The Hertha team thanked the fans with a banner thanking them for their superb support throughout the season as the capital city side finished a creditable 11th the season after winning promotion from Bundesliga 2.
With nothing to lose for both sides the game began brightly. The first goalmouth action came from Borussia, but a third minute shot on the turn by Henrikh Mkhitaryan was easily dealt with by home keeper Kraft. Things became much more dangerous at the other end as it took a last ditch goal line headed clearance by Nuri Sahin to deny Wagner with Dortmund stopper Weidenfeller beaten (6.). The Bundesliga runners up had more possession but the home defence did well early on.
Double whammy edges visitors ahead
Home coach Jos Luhukay waxs forced into a change after half an hour, as Johannes van den Bergh replaced Skjelbred who limped off with a thigh injury. Van den Bergh slotted in at left back while Pekarik played on the right with Ndjeng moving into Skjelbred's spot further up the pitch. Hany Mukhtar initiated a few moves but as has been so often the case this season the final telling pass was missing from Hertha's game. Dortmund finally found a way through the Berlin defence shortly before the break. On 41 minutes Mats Hummels found danger man Robert Lewandowski with a through ball while the prolific Pole looked to be offside. Hertha protests were waved away and the Bayern-bound hit man scored his 19th goal of the season making him the top scorer in the Bundesliga (41.). Dortmund doubled their lead only three minutes later as Milos Jojic cut in from the right before curling a fine shot past Kraft and into the far corner of the net (44.). Borussia led 2-0 at halftime.
The action continued right after the opening whistle. The new half was less than a minute old as Germany star Reus latched onto a diagonal ball from Lewandowski, only to blaze the ball well over the crossbar. On 47 minutes Schulz breezed past former Hertha man Lukasz Piszczek, but his low ball inside was cleared away for a corner by the visitors (47.). Then Jojic could have scored his second, but his shot struck Kraft before flying over goal (48.). Luhukay had to make a further chance after around an hour, as Langkamp signalled to the bench that he could not carry on. He was replaced by Peter Niemeyer. Kobiashvili had a shot from 20 metres blocked (60.), before Wagner had to settle for a corner kick following a shot from a tight angle (62.).
Fitting send off for Levan Kobiashvili
Then things became emotional as captain for the day Levan Kobiashvili left the pitch for the final time before hanging his playing boots up. The whole stadium rose to give him a rousing send off. he was replaced by Ramos for the final 30 minutes. Hertha continued to move forward and on 63 minutes Ndjeng nailed a fierce effort onto Weidenfeller's crossbar (63.). Then it was the turn of Ramos to threaten. The visiting defence cleared a ball away for a corner, from which Ramos forced a stunning reflex save from Weidenfeller, who this week made Germany's provisional World Cup squad of announced this week (68.). But the visitors once again struck twice to finally put the game to bed. Ten minutes from time a soft free kick was fired into the top corner by Lewandowski, who moments later forced a clearance from Kraft, which only found Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose shot was deflected home via Mkhitaryan to make it 4-0 to Dortmund (82.).
The result was always going to be only a secondary thought for both teams. The Hertha team thanked the fans with a banner thanking them for their superb support throughout the season as the capital city side finished a creditable 11th the season after winning promotion from Bundesliga 2.