Unbeaten home record comes to an end

Hertha BSC suffered a 3-0 home defeat to RB Leipzig on Saturday evening (03/11/18) as their five game unbeaten home run came to an end.

Formation

Pál Dárdai made three changes to the starting line-up that played in the 2-0 victory over Darmstadt on Tuesday. Fabian Lustenberger, Maximilian Mittelstädt and Vedad Ibisevic all came in for Vladimir Darida, Javairo Dilrosun and Davie Selke. Dardai also set his team up with 5 at the back instead of the normal back four. The opponents made six changes after their DFB-Pokal game, with Nordi Mukiele, Willi Orban, Marcelo Saracchi, Bruma, Matheus Cunha and Timo Werner all coming for Stefan Ilsanker, Dayot Upamecano, Marcel Halstenberg, Lukas Klostermann, Yussuf Poulsen and Jean-Kévin Augustin (injured).

Match Summary

RB Leipzig started the game on the front foot and had their first chance of the game within the first minute as Rune Jarstein made a fantastic save to deny Timo Werner. However, the Norwegian was beaten by Timo Werner in the seventh minute as the away side took an early lead. Hertha almost immediately equalised as Salomon Kalou’s shot, after a fantastic through ball from Vedad Ibisevic to Valentino Lazaro, went wide of the goal. The game was open and both sides had chances to score. In the 20th minute, Ondrej Duda and Kalou both had good chances, but both efforts were well saved by the Leipzig keeper, Peter Gulácsi. Just before half-time, Hertha once again had a chance to equalise as Ibisevic was played through, but his effort was pushed out for a corner by the goalkeeper.

The second half began in similar fashion to the first, with Jarstein once again denying Werner after 48 minutes. The Norwegian was able to deny the striker again three minutes later, but Werner had the last laugh on 53 minutes, completing a Leipzig counter attack to make it 2-0. Dárdai then went for it and brought on three attacking players in Dilrosun, Selke and Leckie within just a few minutes. This led to the visitors having even more space on the counter attack and Werner had the chance to get his hat-trick on 73 minutes, although Jarstein was on hand to save expertly again. Moments later, Arne Maier had the best Hertha chance in the second half, but couldn't direct his shot on target. Cunha, on the other hand, was able to seal victory with his long-range effort in the 75th minute. His goal to make it 3-0 concluded the game.

Conclusion and outlook

Hertha’s unbeaten home record came to an end. Hertha’s last loss before today was also against RB Leipzig on matchday 34 last season. Hertha Berlin now sit in 8th place following this result and will face Fortuna Düsseldorf next Saturday (10/11/18) on matchday 11.