Teams | May 4, 2015 at 11:22 AM
Five minutes away
Five minutes away
Hertha BSC lost 1-2 to a strong Gladbach side through a late goal on Sunday evening in Berlin.
Berlin - Hertha fought hard, but in the end lost 1-2 to Borussia Mönchengladbach who now go third in the table. A crowd of 56,881 at the Olympic stadium in Berlin saw the better side win on the day whose winning goal came five miutes shy of full time. Home coach Pal Dardai welcomed back first choice keeper Thomas Kraft to the team after missing his side's last game with bruised ribs, but Nico Schulz missed out with a bout of flu. Marcel Ndjeng replaced him at right back which meant that Genki Haraguchi reverted to the left. Former Hertha and now Gladbach coach Lucien Favre made only one change to the team which beat fellow high-flyers VfL Wolfsburg 1-0 at home on matchday 30, with Alvaro Dominguez making way for fit again skipper Tony Jantschke.
Both teams began in positive mood, and after a ten minute period of eying each other up, Gladbach "scored" first, only to have a Max Kruse goal ruled out for offside. Gladbach won possession following the resulting free kick. Former Hertha favourite Raffael played a square ball to the feet of Kruse lurking inside the Berlin box from where he easily opened the scoring with a simple tap in (11.). Hertha were surprised but not shocked by that setback and struck back within two minutes. Haraguchi made a fine run down the left before producing a wonderful cross onto the head of Salomon Kalou at the near post. The Ivorian struck the crossbar with his header but Valentin Stocker was on hand to nod home the rebound and the capital city hosts level (13.).
Stocker had another good chance midway through the first half, but could only look on in horror as Roel Brouwers deflected his shot agonisingly wide of the right hand upright (22.). There was danger at the other end as Kraft used all of his considerable frame to tip a fierce effort by Granit Xhaka over his crossbar (25.).The visitors had more of the ball but Hertha remained a threat. Ndjeng had a shot with his weaker left foot blocked before a shot by Peter Pekarik on the right flew wide of the far post (35.). Gladbach had the better scoring chances. On 42 minutes they won a free kick which Xhaka headed against the crossbar (42.), before all on his own he somehow pulled a shot wide following a square ball by Fabian Johnson with the goal at his mercy (43.).
The teams emerged for the second half unchanged, and Gladbach had more possession once again, while Hertha tried to hit them with quick counter attacks after winning second ball. A warning shot from distance by Ndjeng failed to trouble Gladbach stopper Yann Sommer (46.), but the latter showed his class keeping out a shot on the turn from Kalou which he turned around a post following a cross by Skjelbred (54.). Gladbach won a free kick 20 metres out, which Johnson sent fizzing narrowly wide of a post (56.). Moments later the USA international was in the thick of it again, but Kraft just beat him to a nicely-weighted through ball.
Gladbach increased the pressure - Hertha continued hitting them on the break. Kalou missed the right moment to release the ball after a run which took him half the length of the pitch, then at the other end Kruse (62.) and Xhaka (on the volley) fired wide of target (65.). Peter Niemeyer replaced Hertha skipper Lustenberger 20 minutes from the end, and in doing so recorded his 100th Bundesliga appearance. Stocker threatened again but Sommer was on his guard to turn a shot from an acute angle away for a corner (73.). Pál Dárdai went on to use the final two substitutions available to him, firstly having Änis Ben-Hatira replace Ndjeng, before bringing on Raffael's brother Ronny to replace Stocker. Ronny started well too, producing a fine defence-splitting pass which was sadly slightly to fast for Kalou to reach and capitalise on (83.).
Gladbach struck with five minutes left on the clock after substitute (and former Hertha man) Ibrahima Traoré cut in from the right to the edge of the Hertha box, from where he superbly curled a shot past Kraft and low into the far corner of the net to give the visitors a deserved lead (85.). Kruse then missed a sitter while alone in front of goal (90.). The home side tried hard to fight back but Gladbach played out the final minutes with the class of a side hoping to play Champions League football next term. Sometimes in football you simply have to hold your hands up and say that the better team won on the day. That was certainly the case on
Bundesliga matchday 31 in Berlin. Hertha hope to recuperate the points lost on Sunday next Saturday, but it wont be easy. Dardai and Co. visit the incredible Signal-Iduna Park, where a crowd in excess of 80,000 and Borussia Dortmund await. That game on May 9th kicks off at 3.30 pm.
(rd,war/City-Press)
Both teams began in positive mood, and after a ten minute period of eying each other up, Gladbach "scored" first, only to have a Max Kruse goal ruled out for offside. Gladbach won possession following the resulting free kick. Former Hertha favourite Raffael played a square ball to the feet of Kruse lurking inside the Berlin box from where he easily opened the scoring with a simple tap in (11.). Hertha were surprised but not shocked by that setback and struck back within two minutes. Haraguchi made a fine run down the left before producing a wonderful cross onto the head of Salomon Kalou at the near post. The Ivorian struck the crossbar with his header but Valentin Stocker was on hand to nod home the rebound and the capital city hosts level (13.).
Stocker had another good chance midway through the first half, but could only look on in horror as Roel Brouwers deflected his shot agonisingly wide of the right hand upright (22.). There was danger at the other end as Kraft used all of his considerable frame to tip a fierce effort by Granit Xhaka over his crossbar (25.).The visitors had more of the ball but Hertha remained a threat. Ndjeng had a shot with his weaker left foot blocked before a shot by Peter Pekarik on the right flew wide of the far post (35.). Gladbach had the better scoring chances. On 42 minutes they won a free kick which Xhaka headed against the crossbar (42.), before all on his own he somehow pulled a shot wide following a square ball by Fabian Johnson with the goal at his mercy (43.).
The teams emerged for the second half unchanged, and Gladbach had more possession once again, while Hertha tried to hit them with quick counter attacks after winning second ball. A warning shot from distance by Ndjeng failed to trouble Gladbach stopper Yann Sommer (46.), but the latter showed his class keeping out a shot on the turn from Kalou which he turned around a post following a cross by Skjelbred (54.). Gladbach won a free kick 20 metres out, which Johnson sent fizzing narrowly wide of a post (56.). Moments later the USA international was in the thick of it again, but Kraft just beat him to a nicely-weighted through ball.
Gladbach increased the pressure - Hertha continued hitting them on the break. Kalou missed the right moment to release the ball after a run which took him half the length of the pitch, then at the other end Kruse (62.) and Xhaka (on the volley) fired wide of target (65.). Peter Niemeyer replaced Hertha skipper Lustenberger 20 minutes from the end, and in doing so recorded his 100th Bundesliga appearance. Stocker threatened again but Sommer was on his guard to turn a shot from an acute angle away for a corner (73.). Pál Dárdai went on to use the final two substitutions available to him, firstly having Änis Ben-Hatira replace Ndjeng, before bringing on Raffael's brother Ronny to replace Stocker. Ronny started well too, producing a fine defence-splitting pass which was sadly slightly to fast for Kalou to reach and capitalise on (83.).
Gladbach struck with five minutes left on the clock after substitute (and former Hertha man) Ibrahima Traoré cut in from the right to the edge of the Hertha box, from where he superbly curled a shot past Kraft and low into the far corner of the net to give the visitors a deserved lead (85.). Kruse then missed a sitter while alone in front of goal (90.). The home side tried hard to fight back but Gladbach played out the final minutes with the class of a side hoping to play Champions League football next term. Sometimes in football you simply have to hold your hands up and say that the better team won on the day. That was certainly the case on
Bundesliga matchday 31 in Berlin. Hertha hope to recuperate the points lost on Sunday next Saturday, but it wont be easy. Dardai and Co. visit the incredible Signal-Iduna Park, where a crowd in excess of 80,000 and Borussia Dortmund await. That game on May 9th kicks off at 3.30 pm.
(rd,war/City-Press)