Goalless draw against Mainz 05
Goalless draw against Mainz 05
Hertha BSC drew 0-0 with the Zerofivers on Tuesday evening (15/12/20) in the final home match of the year.
Four days after collecting a point in Mönchengladbach, Bruno Labbadia rotated in three positions: Deyovaisio Zeefuik, Lucas Tousart and Matheus Cunha returned to the line-up, replacing Peter Pekarík, Vladimír Darida and Dodi Lukébakio, who all took their places on the bench. Hertha lined up in a 4-3-3 formation for their final home match of the year. Mainz head coach Jan-Moritz Lichte made five changes to the side that lost 1-0 against Köln at the weekend. Aarón, Leandro Barreiro, Kevin Stöger, Pierre Kunde and Robin Quaison started in place of Daniel Brosinski, Jonathan Burkardt, Kapitän Danny Latza, Jean-Paul Boëtius and Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Hertha took control of possession from the start and forced Mainz back into their own half. The first sights of goal didn’t take long to arrive, but dangerous deliveries from set pieces failed to find a blue and white shirt in the box. The first real chance of the game belonged to Lucas Tousart, who shot over the bar (13’). Hertha enjoyed over 80 percent possession in the first quarter of an hour, but couldn’t break the deadlock. Labbadia’s men remained patient and kept the ball against the Zerofivers, who sat deep and stayed compact. In the middle of the first half the visitors began to have a little joy in the Hertha penalty area, without looking too dangerous. Just five minutes before the half-time whistle, there was a hairy moment for Hertha as Jordan Torunarigha turned the ball onto his own bar with a mishit attempt at a clearance (40’). The players breathed a sigh of relief as the ball bounced away to safety.
Plenty of possession but no way through
Not much changed at the start of the second half: the blue-and-whites continued to dominate possession but lacked the craft to penetrate the Mainz backline. The first chance of the second 45 fell to the visitors, as Stöger put the ball just wide under pressure from Zeefuik (53’). Not long after that, Labbadia made his first substitutions, bringing on Maximilian Mittelstädt and Dodi Lukébakio for Marvin Plattenhardt and Javairô Dilrosun. Highlights were still few and far between despite the fresh legs, though Tousart had an effort from a header after a cross from Mittelstädt (69’). The Frenchman left the pitch alongside Zeefuik shortly after, making way for Mathew Leckie and Peter Pekarík, who celebrated his 200th match in the Bundesliga (71’). At this stage of the game, the Old Lady were looking to threaten on the counter-attack, but play broke down too often in the final third. Neither side managed to make the breakthrough in the final minutes, meaning that the game ended 0-0.
With this draw, the capital city club are now unbeaten in four matches and occupy 10th place in the table with 13 points. Hertha see out the calendar year with a match away to SC Freiburg this weekend (20/12/20, 15:30 CET). After that, there will be a short break from football over the Christmas period, before a return to Bundesliga action against Schalke on 2nd January 2021.
13’: Tousart has a pop from distance, but his effort from the edge of the area goes well over the bar.
40’: Close for Mainz! A cross from the right heads towards Torunarigha, who can’t clear it properly – and hits his own bar. Phew… that could have turned out worse.
53’: Zeefuik takes care of business at the back! Stöger gets the ball in a dangerous position, but our right-back puts him off and gets behind the ball to deflect it behind for a corner.
69’: Another chance, as Tousart heads Mittelstädt‘s cross just off target.
71’: Two more changes for Hertha: Mathew Leckie comes on for Tousart and Peter Pekarík replaces Zeefuik. It’s a 200th Bundesliga appearance for the Slovakian, 145 of them for the blue-and-whites.