BOrussia Mönchengladbach greets from the top of the table for at least one day and remains undefeated under new coach Daniel Farke. Gladbach defeated Hertha BSC 1-0 (1-0) on Friday evening and took first place with seven points. The Berliners, who are still without a win this season and under coach Sandro Schwarz, are stuck in the relegation zone again despite a courageous performance.
In front of 48,411 spectators in Borussia Park, Alassane Plea (34th penalty) scored the decisive goal for the hosts. Jonas Hofmann (70th), who had a small discussion with Plea shortly before the execution, missed a second hand penalty. Hertha’s Filip Uremovic, who caused the second penalty, was sent off with a second yellow card (69′). “Sure, we lost 1-0, but today I don’t feel like a loser,” said Hertha defender Marc Oliver Kempf: “We played well and were the better team from my point of view.”
Good news: Marco Richter was back in the Hertha squad for the first time five weeks after his testicular cancer diagnosis and subsequent operation. Before that, the midfielder, who has not had to undergo chemotherapy, had trained with the team for ten days without any problems.
Cheerful party
In the starting line-up, however, both coaches trusted their recently proven formations. In the third league game, Farke even sent the same first eleven onto the field for the third time, the last injured captain Lars Stindl was initially only on the bench. At Hertha, on the other hand, the captain was missing: Marvin Plattenhardt was not in the squad due to muscular problems.
It was a lively game with chances for both sides. In the 4th minute, Hertha missed Dodi Lukebakio, who sprinted alone to the Gladbach goal after a bad pass from Christoph Kramer. Shortly thereafter, Plea hit the post after a fine individual performance (7th), Berlin’s Marc Oliver Kempf had decisively deflected the ball. Ten minutes later, the Gladbach fans had twice the goal scream on their lips, but Hertha goalkeeper Oliver Christensen reacted outstandingly against the unsuccessful attempt to clear by his teammate Ivan Sunjic and the follow-up shot by Marcus Thuram.
Help from a Herthan
The guests didn’t hide at all and tried to counterattack with sometimes high pressing and early ball wins. That’s how Hertha always managed to get to the end, especially the fast and dribbling strong Lukebakio and Chidera Ejuke caused the Borussia defense some problems.
However, a Hertha player helped when the hosts took the lead: Maximilian Mittelstädt touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area after a cross from Jonas Hofmann, and Plea converted the penalty kick safely. But the Berliners had the chance to equalize before Lukebakio (43rd) made the change.
The game remained largely even in the second half. The guests didn’t give up and now had a little more possession of the ball because Borussia withdrew more. From then on goalkeeper Yann Sommer was often the center of attention, but Gladbach had the best chance of the second half up to that point through Hofmann, who failed to take the penalty on the strong Christensen. When outnumbered, Gladbach then let the ball and opponents run.
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