An unfortunate draw
An unfortunate draw
Hertha BSC put in a pleasing performance and created a series of good chances in their home match against SC Freiburg on Sunday. However, Pál Dárdai’s side were held to a 1-1 draw in front of over 53,000 fans in the Olympiastadion.
Hertha head coach Pál Dárdai was forced into making two changes to the side that started the 0-0 draw away in Mainz before the international break. Niklas Stark (suffering from a bruised toe) and Karim Rekik (illness) were both unavailable for the match against Freiburg and were replaced in the starting lineup by Fabian Lustenberger and Derrick Luckassen, the latter starting at centre-back. The 23 year old Dutchman made his first start for Hertha. Opposing head coach Christian Streich made three changes to his Freiburg match for the match as Gian-Luca Waldschmidt, Marco Terrazzino and Janik Haberer all came into the starting lineup to replace Jérôme Gondorf (torn hamstring), Mike Frantz (calf problem) and Florian Niederlechner (ankle ligament injury).
The hosts made a strong start to the match and tried to put their visitors from south west Germany under a lot of pressure. This proved to be successful straight away as Per Skjelbred was able to play in Ondrej Duda and Hertha’s number 10 made no mistake in find the far corner of the net to give the team from the capital a 7th minute lead. The Blue-Whites continued to be in control of the match after taking the lead but were a little quieter going forward. Salomon Kalou did create a good chance to double Hertha lead in the 27th minute as he created space for a shot after a fine dribble but was only able to fire the ball narrowly over the bar. Just two minutes later, Duda went close to securing his brace but was denied by smart save by SC Freiburg goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow. Freiburg then started to grow back into the match and were rewarded with an equaliser in the 36th minute as Robin Koch’s long distance shot was heavily deflected by Arne Maier, giving Hertha goalkeeper Rune Jarstein no chance as the ball sailed past him into the goal. The sides remained level at 1-1 going into half-time.
After half-time, Hertha went in search of an immediate response to Freiburg’s equaliser and continued to create chances. Maier was the next Hertha player to go close as his 53rd minuet shot was grasped by Schwolow at the second attempt. Vedad Ibišević headed just centimetres wide of the far post a few minutes later (61’) and Kalou’s clever run in the 70th minute was not rewarded with a goal either, the ball instead ending up in the grateful arms of Schwolow. In the closing stages, it was the visitors who started to carve out some good chances to steal the victory as Nils Petersen was denied by the super reactions of Jarstein (83’). There was high drama right at the end of the match as substitute Palko Dárdai was on a surging run and was brought down right on the edge of the penalty area. Referee Benjamin Cortus pointed to the spot before consulting the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for confirmation. After around a minute of consultation, the decision was reversed as a free-kick for Freiburg. Both sides consequently had to settle for a point each and a 1-1 draw.
After eight Bundesliga matches, Hertha BSC have 15 points and are unbeaten at home. Next up for the Blue-Whites is a trip to the Ruhr to take on Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund next Saturday, 27th October at 15:30 CEST.