Teams | October 19, 2017 at 11:43 PM
Hertha leave Lviv empty-handed
Hertha leave Lviv empty-handed
Hertha suffered their second Europa League defeat in three matches after losing 2-1 to Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk on Thursday night.
Lviv- Another European night, another disappointing night for Pal Dardai’s side. Despite dominating the early running and seeing Davie Selke head a brilliant equaliser just after the break, Hertha were breached once in either half in Lviv, and now sit bottom of Group J with just one point from three matches.
There were five changes to the side which lost 2-0 at home to Schalke at the weekend, as Dardai handed a start to two Germany youngsters. European under-21 and summer signing Davie Selke started for the first time since his move, while 18-year-old Arne Maier also celebrated his first time in the starting XI. Valentino Lazaro, Alex Esswein and Fabian Lustenberger also returned, replacing Vladimir Darida, Per Skjelbred, Salomon Kalou, ONdrej Duda and Genki Haraguchi.
Keen to buck the recent away trend, Hertha started positively and were on the front foot from the off in the Ukraine, and had Mitchell Weiser been able to convert from 15 yards when one-on-one inside the first ten minutes, the night could have had a very different course. New man Selke wasn’t involved in some of the early pressing, but rose well to nearly head home from Marvin Plattenhardt’s cross on the half hour, before the former Leipzig player’s clever cross to the back post was volleyed narrowly wide by Esswein moments later.
With the clock ticking down for the end of the first half, Hertha were made to pay by their hosts, as Silas’ free kick took a deflection off the wall and beat Jarstein from 20 yards.
Undeterred, Hertha started the second 45 as they had started the first and deservedly leveled when Davie Selke rose powerfully to slam home a header following a near-perfect corner from Marvin Plattenhardt. It was the first goal in the Europa League proper in 2801 days, since an own goal in the first leg of the Round of 32 tie with Benfica in 2010.
From then on those in dark blue took their foot off the gas, and were thankful to Rune Jarstein on three occasions for seemingly preserving a point. But even that eluded the club from the capital in the end as, just mere moments after Ibisevic had been denied from point blank range, Zorya stole the spoils when Svatok flicked home from close range.
Keen to buck the recent away trend, Hertha started positively and were on the front foot from the off in the Ukraine, and had Mitchell Weiser been able to convert from 15 yards when one-on-one inside the first ten minutes, the night could have had a very different course. New man Selke wasn’t involved in some of the early pressing, but rose well to nearly head home from Marvin Plattenhardt’s cross on the half hour, before the former Leipzig player’s clever cross to the back post was volleyed narrowly wide by Esswein moments later.With the clock ticking down for the end of the first half, Hertha were made to pay by their hosts, as Silas’ free kick took a deflection off the wall and beat Jarstein from 20 yards.
Undeterred, Hertha started the second 45 as they had started the first and deservedly leveled when Davie Selke rose powerfully to slam home a header following a near-perfect corner from Marvin Plattenhardt. It was the first goal in the Europa League proper in 2801 days, since an own goal in the first leg of the Round of 32 tie with Benfica in 2010.
From then on those in dark blue took their foot off the gas, and were thankful to Rune Jarstein on three occasions for seemingly preserving a point. But even that eluded the club from the capital in the end as, just mere moments after Ibisevic had been denied from point blank range, Zorya stole the spoils when Svatok flicked home from close range.
The defeat leaves Hertha bottom of Group J on one point, with Bilbao one point better off in third, Zorza second with six and Östersunds top with seven. Hertha host Zorya in the Olympiastadion in two weeks time.
The next test comes in the Bundesliga, with Dardai taking his side to SC Freiburg on Sunday for a 15:30 CEST kick off.
The next test comes in the Bundesliga, with Dardai taking his side to SC Freiburg on Sunday for a 15:30 CEST kick off.