Draw against Lübeck

Due to our visitors from Lübeck getting stuck in traffic, our sixth pre-season friendly started 15 minutes later than planned. Despite this, the Regionalliga side’s performance seemed unaffected by this delay. Hertha goalkeeper, Nils Körber, had several touches early on, although he didn’t need to make any notable saves. The first big chance belonged to the home side and winger Dennis Jastrzembski. He tested out Lübeck’s keeper Eric Gründemann with a shot from 15 yards out (15’). Seven minutes later, Körber had to be on his toes due to a slightly misdirected header back to him by defender Deyovaisio Zeefuik (22’). Hertha, who had already trained this morning, looked slightly tired due to the ongoing strains of pre-season, but that didn’t stop them taking the lead. Suat Serdar opened the scoring after some nice play by Dodi Lukébakio (27’). Our number 11 almost doubled the lead straight after, narrowly missing the target (30’). There were no more goals in first period, though the ‘Old Lady’ continued to control proceedings.

Head coach Dárdai made 10 changes for the second half, only keeping Körber on in goal. Davie Selke and Alexander Schwolow both didn’t feature as they were training individually instead. That meant that Maximilian Mittelstädt and Lukas Klünter played the second 45 alongside a number of youngsters, including Luca Netz. The youthful Hertha side quickly saw their lead vanish – substitute Elsamed Ramaj scored with the first opportunity of the second half for the fourth-tier outfit (47’). Linus Gechter then missed the chance to answer back immediately with a header from a Klünter cross (52’). While our youngsters had more possession, there weren’t many chances to speak of. Lübeck, who went down from the 3. Liga last season, concentrated on defending and referee Daniel Siebert promptly blew up after 90 minutes in front of 978 fans in Berlin.

Hertha BSC (First half): Körber, Zeefuik, M. Dárdai, Stark (C), Plattenhardt, Boateng, Ascacíbar, Serdar, Dilrosun, Lukébakio, Jastrzembski

Hertha BSC (Second half): Körber, Klünter (C), Morgenstern, Gechter, Mittelstädt, Gayret, Dirkner, Michelbrink, Redan, Werthmüller, Netz

VfB Lübeck: Gründemann, Daube (67' Andreasson), Grupe, Brackelmann (55' Taritas), Kölle, Amamoo (67' Sezer), Schmitt, Ciapa (67' Lippegaus), Abifade (55' Kleeschätzky), Fakhro, Krolikowski (46' Ramaj)

Goals: 1-0 Serdar (27'), 1-1 Ramaj (47')

Yellow cards: Gayret - Fakhro, Ciapa

Attendance: 978

Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)