Defeated by the Foals

There were some late decisions made by Tayfun Korkut in terms of personnel ahead of the game. The head coach decided on Marcel Lotka in goal, with a back three of Linus Gechter, Niklas Stark and Marc Kempf. With wing-backs of Marvin Plattenhardt and Peter Pekarík, the centre of midfield consisted of Santiago Ascacíbar and Lucas Tousart - Vladimír Darida played in the number 10 position behind the two strikers of Ishak Belfodil and Davie Selke. Dedryck Boyata was injured in midweek and was named as a substitute, but Prince Boateng and Stevan Jovetić both missed out. The Foals gave a start to former Herthaner Luca Netz.

Goalkeeper Lotka made a fine start to the game, making a good save from a Breel Embolo shot after four minutes. Five minutes on from that, both Embolo and Lotka were involved again – the Swiss international powered a shot at goal after going past three defenders which smacked off the crossbar, the 20-year-old goalkeeper beaten all ends up. Borussia remained dangerous, pulling the defence and midfield apart time and again. Marcus Thuram fired over from the left (14’), before winning a penalty for his side, as the Frenchman was fouled by Kempf inside the area. Alassane Pléa made no mistake from 12 yards and Gladbach took the lead (24’). The game quietened down after that, with few attempts at goal other than a pair of Thuram shots which came to little danger (38’, 43’) and a shot from Tousart at the other end which did not change the scoreline (45+2’). Half time, and a big second 45 was needed from the Blue-Whites.

The second half began with a substitution from Tayfun Korkut, as Suat Serdar replaced Ascacíbar. Hertha came into the second period with a renewed attacking ambition, Kempf forcing a fine save from Yann Sommer as he headed a Marvin Plattenhardt corner towards the top corner (54’). Plattenhardt, making his 200th appearance for Hertha, created the Blue-Whites’ biggest chance of the game there. Sadly, at the other end, it was no such luck – Lotka initially made a sensational save to deny Joe Scally, but Matthias Ginter was left free to head home the resulting corner, making it 2-0 to the Foals (59’). Korkut reacted to this with several changes, as Anton Kade came on for Pekarík, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp and Marco Richter replacing Selke and Darida later on (60’, 75’). Our number 10 almost made an instant impact, as his deflected effort from the edge of the box crashed off the crossbar (76’). Hertha did not give up by any means, pushing for a goal back through Serdar’s shot which went wide and a Kade cross which ended up going just over the bar (79’, 84’). Unfortunately, nothing came off, and Hertha could not find a way to avoid making the long trip back to Berlin empty handed.

Borussia Mönchengladbach: Sommer (C); Ginter, Elvedi, Beyer; Scally, Neuhaus, Koné, Netz (76‘ Lainer); Thuram (89‘ Stindl), Embolo, Pléa (65‘ Kramer)

Hertha BSC: Lotka; Pekarík (60‘ Kade), Gechter, Stark (C), Kempf, Plattenhardt; Ascacíbar (46‘ Serdar), Darida (75‘ Ekkelenkamp), Tousart; Belfodil, Selke (75‘ Richter)

Goals: 1-0 Pléa (24’ Pen), 2-0 Ginter (59’)

Referee: Florian Badstübner

Yellow cards: Ginter, Scally, Thuram

Attendance: 30,675