Newsletter

Again and again Kolo Muani: Eintracht extends Hertha’s negative series

With a brace, Frankfurt’s Kolo Muani got his Frankfurt team’s 3-0 win over Hertha off the ground. For the Berliners it is already the fourth defeat in the fourth game of the year.

Randal Kolo Muani celebrates one of his two goals against Hertha.

IMAGO/osnapix

After three defeats (1:10 goals) after the restart and a turbulent week with the dismissal of sports director Fredi Bobic, Hertha was unable to bring about a turnaround in Frankfurt either. The Berliners, who started after the 0:2 in the derby against Union Kenny and Niederlechner for Pekarik and Kanga (toe injury), saw a powerful unity from the start.

The SBU, which compared to the 1-1 draw at FC Bayern with newcomers Max and Kamada instead of Knauff and Rode, played powerfully forward with speed and few contacts. In the early stages, the Hertha defense was repeatedly put under pressure, but because the last pass was often missing, many things got stuck in the promising approach.

Kolo Muani continues his run

But before Christensen got more to do than intercept through passes and crosses, the keeper had to fish the ball out of the net. Uremovic was only able to stop the dribbling Kolo Muani in the penalty area with a foul, the attacker safely converted himself into the lead (21st).

The Berliners would have liked to have had a penalty immediately beforehand. Because Hasebe blocked Richter’s long-range shot with his arm, the VAR did not intervene (19th). In general, the old lady did not get beyond blocked shots in the first half, and Serdar’s attempt was not the answer to the deficit (24th).

Frankfurt double whammy

The Frankfurters acted completely differently, keeping the attacking pressure high – and increasing it just seven minutes later with a nice move: Götze and Lindström brought Kolo Muani into position, who made it 2-0 (28 ‘).

The remaining minutes up to the break, the SGE confidently controlled against harmless Berliners.

Berlin is becoming more active, unity remains more dangerous

After a triple change – including newcomer Cigerci – and a switch to a back three, Hertha became more active than in the first round. But Niederlechner did not get more than one shot from a tight angle (49′).

After that, Eintracht took over again, showing straight away that they were simply more dangerous than the Berliners. But Kolo Muani (55′) and Tuta (58′) were both unable to celebrate the 3-0 win due to offside positions.

Hertha also showed improvement in the further course of the second half, but nothing countable jumped out. Tuta killed the best chance. The defender cleared a shot from substitute Ngankam just before the line (62′).

In the final phase, Frankfurt then controlled the game again, even ex-Frankfurt Boateng was unable to give the Berlin game a decisive boost after being substituted on (80th). Cigerci’s central free-kick hit was the guests’ last serious chance (83′). Buta (90 + 4) put the final point in stoppage time. Götze had previously missed two big opportunities (85th, 86th).

Eintracht won their second home game in 2023 and is unbeaten in the fourth game of the year. For a Berlin that improved but was too harmless in the second round, it is the fourth bankruptcy in a row, the third without a goal.

On Tuesday, Frankfurt will continue in the round of 16 against second division team Darmstadt (8:45 p.m.). The Hertha team are visiting Mönchengladbach on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.).

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending