Teams | October 2, 2017 at 05:29 PM
A fantastic comeback
A fantastic comeback
Despite trailing 2-0 to Bayern Munich, Hertha BSC managed to fight back to earn a draw against the reigning Bundesliga champions, and will now enter the international break on a high note.
Berlin - After Robert Lewandowski scored Bayern’s second goal in the 49th minute, the 71,212 fans in attendance could be forgiven for thinking that Hertha were now destined to lose. Scoring two goals against a side that have dominated German football in recent years? Surely impossible. However, as Wolfsburg showed in the last matchday, this current Bayern team is more than beatable - and with a huge effort, Hertha managed to pull it back to 2-2. “I’m really happy that we managed to come back from that deficit. This team has a lot of character, and they showed a great reaction to the second goal going in,” said Pál Dárdai.
The upbeat mood of Hertha’s head coach was absolutely understandable, as things looked anything but positive in the 49th minute. To this point, a very motivated Bayern team had set the tone from the outset. Germany international Mats Hummels headed the visitors in front in the 10th minute to get interim head coach Willy Sagnol’s regime off to the perfect start. “We began slowly and gifted that goal to them - we have to defend better,” said Dárdai in terms of his team’s start. Even though Bayern created more dangerous chances, Hertha didn’t succumb to the pressure, and instead tried to get their own foothold in the game by pushing further forward. This effort was seemingly rewarded when the referee Harm Osmers pointed to the spot after a challenge from Bayern’s Javi Martinez on Vladimir Darida (18’). However, the celebrations were short lived. The decision was reversed after the referee utilised the VAR. The Per Skjelbred lead team didn’t give up though, and Darida came very close to equalising before the teams went in for the break (35’).
Hertha looked to start the second half with a renewed sense of impetus. “We regrouped during half time. We wanted to be more aggressive and win more challenges. But then we still conceded the second goal,” said Dárdai. It seemed that the Champions League participants had caught the team from the capital in a slight rut after a busy period of football. “At that stage, I don’t think anyone was expecting anything from us,” said Marvin Plattenhardt. How wrong they were! The team showed that anything really is possible. “We applied some more pressure, and made the most of the possession we did have going forward,” said the left back.
And how. Not even two minutes had passed since Lewandowski had scored his goal when Genki Haraguchi, starting for the first time this season, weaved through the entire Bayern defence before serving up a great pass to Ondrej Duda, who finished coolly. It was his first goal in a Hertha shirt (51’). “My goal was just a formality really. I think it would have been more of a surprise if I missed from there to be honest,” said Hertha’s number 10. The home side were now very much on the front foot, and the equaliser came a mere five minutes later through Salomon Kalou (56’). “The chances kept coming when we started to press more. Obviously Bayern are a world class team, but they’re also only human - so it’s natural for them to make some mistakes,” said Karim Rekik, who was involved in the build up to the equaliser.
The game felt like it deserved another goal, but by the end a draw felt like a victory for the home side. “It was a great game. It really isn’t easy to come back from behind like we did,” said the substitute Valentino Lazaro, who made his first appearance for the Old Lady. And with that, Hertha head into the international break on a high, and will be looking forward to their next game when they welcome Schalke to the Olympiastadion on 14th October. “We really wanted to get something out of this game after the two losses. So we managed to achieve what we set out to,” said Pál Dárdai. To do so when it seemed so unlikely in the 49th minute is a true testament to the growing self-confidence of this Hertha side.