A Christmas cracker – Huge win to see out the year!
Tayfun Korkut made a whole host of changes following the defeat in Mainz, six in all. Suat Serdar (badly bruised knee) and Stevan Jovetić (calf), who were substituted off on Tuesday night, were unable to make a return to face the Black-Yellows. In addition to them, captain Dedryck Boyata (Achilles) and Prince Boateng (knee) both missed out. Deyovaisio Zeefuik, Marvin Plattenhardt and Lucas Tousart all started on the bench. Peter Pekarík returned to the starting XI following his muscular problems, along with Jordan Torunarigha, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Marco Richter, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp and Myziane Maolida, giving some fresh legs to the team following a tough week.
Maolida’s opener disallowed – Brandt scores for BVB
Hertha came out of the blocks with courage and created the game’s first chance after 6 minutes: Belfodil found Ekkelenkamp inside the penalty area, and his shot was saved by Marwin Hitz in the BVB goal. The away side looked for a prompt reply, a cross from Thomas Meunier flashing across the defence (9’) before Hertha goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow saved well from Marco Reus, Dortmund’s captain then heading wide from the resulting corner (11’,13’). The next chance was our own, Ekkelenkamp slicing wide from close range (15’). Just seconds later, Maolida did what his teammate could not, turning the ball in from a Pekarík cross to give Hertha what seemed to be the lead. However, Marco Fritz and his VAR team decided that the goal was not to be, Belfodil marginally offside despite him not being involved in the move. The game then calmed down for a period, before BVB found a way through: Julian Brandt ran onto a loose ball and chipped over Schwolow to give the away side the lead (31’). Despite that, our boys in blue and white kept their heads up, Torunarigha shooting wide from a well-worked free kick (39’). The Black-Yellows did find the net a second time, but goalscorer Axel Witsel was well offside as he tapped home (44’).
Lightning-fast Hertha start – Belfodil and Richter turn the game on its head
The start of the second half saw our Blue-Whites really kick on, and the 5,000 fans at the Olympiastadion were quickly rewarded with an equaliser. Belfodil was found by a beautiful Darida pass, and he raced into the box before keeping his cool and sliding home underneath Hitz for a well-earned equaliser (51’)! Shortly afterwards, head coach Korkut was forced into a change as Pekarík came off injured and was replaced by Zeefuik. Meanwhile, the rest of the team kept the pressure on and got the lead: Maolida held the ball up well before laying it off for Marco Richter to hammer into the top corner from the edge of the box – 2-1 to Hertha (57’)! Marco Rose’s team looked to hit back quickly, a tap-in from substitute Thorgan Hazard was disallowed due to a narrow Haaland offside in the build-up, before Mahmoud Dahoud curled over (61’, 66’). Up the other end, though, we found the net once again! Richter thundered the ball in on the rebound after Belfodil’s one-on-one was saved by Hitz (69’). Tousart and Linus Gechter then came on for some fresh defensive impetus for the closing stages. Dortmund substitute Tigges powered a header in with seven minutes to go to make things nervy for Hertha, but our lads did not let up with the fight and passion they had showed all game – the final whistle blew on a huge home win to see the year out!
Hertha BSC: Schwolow; Pekarik (55‘ Zeefuik), Stark (C), Torunarigha, Mittelstädt; Darida (71‘ Tousart), Ascacibar; Richter (71‘ Gechter), Ekkelenkamp (87‘ Selke); Belfodil (87‘ Plattenhardt), Myziane
Borussia Dortmund: Hitz; Meunier (71‘ Wolf), Witsel (71‘ Zagadou), Pongračić, Schulz (71‘ Guerreiro); Can, Brandt (81‘ Tigges), Dahoud, Reus (58‘ Hazard); Haaland, Malen
Goals: 0-1 Brandt (31‘), 1-1 Belfodil (51‘), 2-1 Richter (57‘), 3-1 Richter (69‘), 3-2 Tigges (83‘)
Referee: Marco Fritz
Yellow cards: Pongračić
Attendance: 5,000