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Matchday 32: Bitter defeat in a wild game: Hertha before relegation

Matchday 32: Bitter defeat in a wild game: Hertha before relegation

They fall behind quickly, lead all of a sudden and are lucky not to get lost at the end. After the defeat in Cologne, relegation is getting dangerously close for Hertha BSC.

After a wild goal hunt and despite a temporary lead in Cologne, the seventh Bundesliga relegation for Hertha BSC is threateningly closer.

The defensively overwhelmed Berliners lost at the start of the third to last match day 2:5 (2:3) at 1. FC Köln and, as bottom of the table, have to hope for defeats of almost all competitors at the weekend to even have a realistic chance of remaining in the football to have Bundesliga. Coach Pal Dardai’s ambitious goal of winning all of the last four games was thwarted in the second game.

Cologne with a lot of offensive power

Davie Selke of all people, who has been with Hertha since 2017 with a one-year break and only moved to Cologne in the winter, initiated Hertha’s 19th defeat of the season. The Berliners turned the game around through Lucas Tousart (18′) and Stevan Jovetic (33′), but were already behind at the break after goals from Timo Hübers (39′) and Ellyes Skhiri (43′). Hübers (69th) with his second goal and Denis Huseinbasic (81st) finally sealed the bankruptcy in the second half. Two hits against the post and the strong goalkeeper Oliver Christensen prevented an even worse debacle.

The Cologne team had been sure of staying in the class since the previous week. For the first time since relegation in 1998, they are going into a fifth consecutive year in the top division. The FC fans sang scornfully in the direction of the Berliners: “Hey, what’s up, Hertha is finally going down.”

Cold shower from ex-Herthaner Selke

Hertha, with the same team as in the 2-1 win against VfB Stuttgart, started courageously. And was caught off guard by Selke of all people. Eric Martel, back after a yellow card suspension, was allowed to cross unhindered, Selke prevailed in the air against Filip Uremovic and Marc Oliver Kempf and gave Christensen no chance to defend himself. The question of whether he was cheering against his ex-club was irrelevant, since Selke, like Uremovic, was injured in an aerial duel. While the Cologne striker lasted another 20 minutes and was then substituted, the Croatian defender from Hertha had to leave the field immediately and was replaced by Agustin Rogel.

The goal had a brief impact on the guests, who then pulled themselves together and promptly fought back. After a cross from Marco Richter, after a defensive action by Jeff Chabot, the ball passed through Kingsley Schindler’s calf to Tousart, who scored from ten meters.

Hertha finds no answer to Cologne goal mood

And after Christensen had saved a header from Schindler (25th), the bottom of the table even followed up: After a long ball from Dardai, Jonas Hector misjudged, Dodi Lukebakio put it on for Jovetic and he hit the other from a similar position as Tousart before Corner. But it did not stop. With a simple set piece, the Berliners were duped when Hübers headed in a free kick from Florian Kainz. And shortly afterwards, Hertha ran into a counterattack at Skhiri’s goal at 2:2 in the opponent’s stadium. Coach Dardai watched the blow in consternation with folded arms.

After the change things went wild. Cologne continued to have chances, but Christensen became more and more the best Berliner and single-handedly prevented a hopeless deficit. A Hübers header saved the post (59′) before Hübers and Huseinbasic scored.

Source: Stern

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