Breathe in, breathe out. On to the next one
Breathe in, breathe out. On to the next one
Hertha BSC get a little respite and can take a deep breath following the convincing performance against Leverkusen, but now the focus is already on the next match.
Berlin – Breathe in, breathe out – and then the celebratory yell. After a tense five minutes of stoppage time, the referee finally brought an end to the match against Leverkusen on Wednesday evening in the Olympiastadion. Pál Dárdai ran over to hug Rainer Widmayer, his fellow coach, and exclaimed a shout of joy. It was the perfect way to celebrate the head coach’s 100th match in charge of the club. Relief came over the management team, relief because the deserved three points were secured. “Leverkusen has a lot of quality. The dying minutes weren’t fun, but we did enough in the end,” sighed Vedad Ibisevic.
Hertha deserved the 2-1 victory thanks to the first-half performance. The team from Berlin were alert and proactive and there was no sign of fatigue after the third game in ten days. “We were aggressive off the ball and scored goals. We were well prepared and can be proud of it,” said Marvin Plattenhardt. Again it was Mathew Leckie who popped up to ensure the second home win of the season with his fourth goal of the campaign. “It was one of the best goals of my career,” he enthused.
A little respite
Salomon Kalou got Hertha’s second following a perfect cross from captain Ibisevic. “I’m glad Salomon got the goal and the win for the team,” said the captain, who came close to scoring himself. Leverkusen grew into the match, while Hertha defended from deep. “After our second goal we retreated and defended well. Shame we weren’t better on the counter. That final ball was missing,” said Dárdai. It proved to be a tense conclusion after Leverkusen’s 84th minute goal. Dárdai praised the mental strength that Hertha showed to hang on to victory. Leckie called it “character”. Karim Rekik played a crucial role in the defensive display, returning to his role as central defender. “I always try to help the team. We shouldn’t have let Leverkusen get into the match,” said Rekik. Nevertheless, Hertha did pull through – “the relief at the final whistle was huge,” summarised Leckie.
Hertha will conclude a busy footballing week on Saturday (23.09.17) against Mainz 05. “We have three tough games before the international break with Bayern and Schalke also coming up, but we want to keep on being successful,” affirms Dárdai. The players, too. Rekik and Leckie were already talking about the trip to Mainz on the way to the locker-room.