Teams | March 15, 2015 at 05:02 PM
Not quite victory...
Not quite victory...
Hertha conceded a last minute equaliser in the 2-2 home draw with FC Schalke 04.
Berlin - Hertha BSC came agonisingly close to beating Schalke, in front of almost 60,000 on Bundesliga matchday 25 at the Olympic stadium in Berlin on Saturday afternoon (14.03.15). The team under coach Pal Dardai had to settle for a 2-2 draw, after the visitors equalised in the final minute of the game. ƒnis Ben-Hatira made his first start of the year and worked hard down the right wing. Per Skjelbred returned from suspension to replace Heitinga. Thomas Kraft and John Anthony Brooks became fit in time after shaking off minor injuries. The visitors fielded the same side which ran mighty Real Madrid close in the Champions League in midweek. Choupo-Moting failed a late fitness test and was replaced by Leroy SanÈ.
As expected Schalke - fifth place in the table before kick off, had more of the ball early on. Hertha's defence looked solid though and didn't allow much during the opening exchanges. An initial warning shot from distance from Christian Fuchs failed to trouble home keeper (4.). The Berliners tried to switch quickly from defence to attack on winning the ball back. Front man Salomon Kalou was almost alone on goal after a pass into the channel by Valentin Stocker, but the Ivorian was pulled back for being offside (12.). The Ruhr Valley-based visitors continued to try their luck from distance, but Dutchman Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's effort lacked accuracy as it flew well wide of the far post (16.).
Hertha stronger after the break
On 21 minutes Stocker cut inside from the right wing before testing Schalke keeper Timon Wellenreuther with an average shot from inside the box. The keeper fluffed at the ball, and parried in into the path of Ben-Hatira who had a simple tap in to open the scoring. The Tunisian then put a Superman mask on during the goal celebration and was promptly booked. Schalke answered by pinning the home side back in their own half. Hertha won the ball back well at times, but it came to nothing as the final telling pass to the front men was mostly missing or too wayward. Schalke continued to press foward and finally drew level as SanË cut into the Berlin box from the left before drawing four defenders to the near post. He waited until the final milli-second before producing a wonderfully delicate chip over Kraft and into the net (40.). The game was nicely poised at 1-1 as the halftime whistle sounded.
The home side threatened first after the break as Kalou played a fine through ball to the feet of Ben-Hatira, who failed to get past Schalke captain and World Cup winner Benedikt Hˆwedes (48.). At the other end Fuchs tested Kraft, but the Berlin stopper was up to the challenge (52.). Hertha then had a decent period of pressure. On 55 minutes Kalou narrowly failed to connect with a cross by Beerens, before the striker forced a good save out of Wellenreuther (55.). Tolga Cigerci replaced Ben-Hatira and began by setting up Kalou, who blasted the ball well over the crossbar (58.).
Haraguchi's late strike not enough
The home side then camped out in Schalke's half for a while. Kalou began a counter attack and Schalke had to concede an opening corner following a decent ball into their box by Cigerci. There followed corners numbers two and three following a Kalou shot and a Langkamp header (67.). Berlin captain Fabian Lustenberger had to go off injured to be replaced by Genki Haraguchi. The Nippon battler also did well as soon a he came on with a crisp shot from 25 metres out which landed in the arms of Wellenreuther (74.). Peter Niemeyer came on for the latter stages, replacing Skjelbred who was exhausted. Schalke's midweek exploits against Real Madrid looked to be taking their toll as they failed to threaten the Berlin goal. Hertha carried on taking the game to the visitors and were rewarded, as Stocker let fly with another harmless-kooking shot from inside the box. Once again Wellenreuther made a howler by failing to gather the ball, which allowed Haraguchi to gleefully score at the far post to make in 2-1 (81.).
Three minutes later, Schalke's Matic missed a gilt-edged chance to equalise as he failed to score from a metre (!) out, allowing Kraft to clear the danger. He went one better though in injury time, getting his head to a cross to give the visitors a slightly fortunate share of the spoils (90+1). Hertha play again on Friday night (20.03.15, 8.30 pm), as they visit the Imtech Arena in Hamburg, where relegation-threatened HSV await them on matchday 26.
(rd,war/City-Press)
As expected Schalke - fifth place in the table before kick off, had more of the ball early on. Hertha's defence looked solid though and didn't allow much during the opening exchanges. An initial warning shot from distance from Christian Fuchs failed to trouble home keeper (4.). The Berliners tried to switch quickly from defence to attack on winning the ball back. Front man Salomon Kalou was almost alone on goal after a pass into the channel by Valentin Stocker, but the Ivorian was pulled back for being offside (12.). The Ruhr Valley-based visitors continued to try their luck from distance, but Dutchman Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's effort lacked accuracy as it flew well wide of the far post (16.).
Hertha stronger after the break
On 21 minutes Stocker cut inside from the right wing before testing Schalke keeper Timon Wellenreuther with an average shot from inside the box. The keeper fluffed at the ball, and parried in into the path of Ben-Hatira who had a simple tap in to open the scoring. The Tunisian then put a Superman mask on during the goal celebration and was promptly booked. Schalke answered by pinning the home side back in their own half. Hertha won the ball back well at times, but it came to nothing as the final telling pass to the front men was mostly missing or too wayward. Schalke continued to press foward and finally drew level as SanË cut into the Berlin box from the left before drawing four defenders to the near post. He waited until the final milli-second before producing a wonderfully delicate chip over Kraft and into the net (40.). The game was nicely poised at 1-1 as the halftime whistle sounded.
The home side threatened first after the break as Kalou played a fine through ball to the feet of Ben-Hatira, who failed to get past Schalke captain and World Cup winner Benedikt Hˆwedes (48.). At the other end Fuchs tested Kraft, but the Berlin stopper was up to the challenge (52.). Hertha then had a decent period of pressure. On 55 minutes Kalou narrowly failed to connect with a cross by Beerens, before the striker forced a good save out of Wellenreuther (55.). Tolga Cigerci replaced Ben-Hatira and began by setting up Kalou, who blasted the ball well over the crossbar (58.).
Haraguchi's late strike not enough
The home side then camped out in Schalke's half for a while. Kalou began a counter attack and Schalke had to concede an opening corner following a decent ball into their box by Cigerci. There followed corners numbers two and three following a Kalou shot and a Langkamp header (67.). Berlin captain Fabian Lustenberger had to go off injured to be replaced by Genki Haraguchi. The Nippon battler also did well as soon a he came on with a crisp shot from 25 metres out which landed in the arms of Wellenreuther (74.). Peter Niemeyer came on for the latter stages, replacing Skjelbred who was exhausted. Schalke's midweek exploits against Real Madrid looked to be taking their toll as they failed to threaten the Berlin goal. Hertha carried on taking the game to the visitors and were rewarded, as Stocker let fly with another harmless-kooking shot from inside the box. Once again Wellenreuther made a howler by failing to gather the ball, which allowed Haraguchi to gleefully score at the far post to make in 2-1 (81.).
Three minutes later, Schalke's Matic missed a gilt-edged chance to equalise as he failed to score from a metre (!) out, allowing Kraft to clear the danger. He went one better though in injury time, getting his head to a cross to give the visitors a slightly fortunate share of the spoils (90+1). Hertha play again on Friday night (20.03.15, 8.30 pm), as they visit the Imtech Arena in Hamburg, where relegation-threatened HSV await them on matchday 26.
(rd,war/City-Press)