Hertha 2-0 Stuttgart: Three massive points at home!
In his 500th Bundesliga game as a coach, Felix Magath made one enforced change from the win in Augsburg last weekend: the suspended Marco Richter was replaced by Vladimír Darida. Other than that, the starting XI was the same as the one which started in Bavaria. There were two new attackers on the substitutes’ bench, as Ishak Belfodil returned and U19s striker Luca Wollschläger was named on the bench for the first time.
The perfect start: Selke scores after four minutes
The Blue-Whites made what can only be described as a perfect start: After three minutes, a Marvin Plattenhardt corner was narrowly headed wide by Marc Kempf, before the opening goal came. Another pinpoint cross from ‘Platte’ found Davie Selke in the penalty area, and he smashed a volley into the net to give the home side the lead (4’)! The linesman initially had his flag up for offside, but VAR showed that the goalscorer was in a legal position and the goal stood. VfB did look to reply, but Wataru Endo’s shot from 20 yards was easily held by Marcel Lotka (13’). Hertha were full of energy both going forward and defensively, winning 65% of their tackles in the opening 15 minutes. As the half went on, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side grew into the game and had more of the ball, but the Blue-Whites remained dangerous. Darida was denied in the penalty area following a wonderful piece of build-up play between him, Prince Boateng and Selke (36’). Lucas Tousart also hit the side netting in added time at the end of the half; the last action of an opening 45 minutes which saw Hertha lead.
Belfodil wins it in added time!
The second half began with a change at left-back, as Plattenhardt came off injured and was replaced by Fredrik Bjørkan. The first opportunity of the half came from VfB defender Konstantinos Mavropanos, who picked the ball up well inside his own half and drove forward, his 60-yard run ending with a shot that was blocked onto the crossbar and over by his former defensive teammate, Kempf (52’). Not long after, Lotka dealt with a long-range effort from Chris Fürich well (56’). Stuttgart were on top at this point, putting pressure on a defence which held firm. After around an hour, Magath made a double change, bringing Maxi Mittelstädt and Ishak Belfodil on for Prince and Suat Serdar (63’). Our number 37 was the man of the moment, though: Marcal Lotka denied everything VfB threw at him, including a shot from Tiago Tomás on 65 minutes. At the other end, Peter Pekarík ran through on goal and got a shot off which Belfodil could not divert on target (68’). Pushed on by the fantastic home support, our team were able to put pay to Stuttgart’s attacks time and again. With Niklas Stark and Jurgen Ekkelenkamp coming on for Darida and Selke, Magath brought some fresh legs into what could have been a nerve-jangling final stage, but his team played with passion, discipline and maturity. A fine evening was capped off in added time by Belfodil, who won the ball inside the penalty area and outfoxed two defenders before squeezing the ball into the corner: cue wild celebrations on the pitch and in the stands! Felix Brych blew the final whistle, and with it came three massive, massive points for Hertha BSC. With three games to go, the Blue-Whites are four points from the relegation zone!
Hertha BSC: Lotka; Pekarík, Boyata, Kempf, Plattenhardt (46’ Bjørkan); Tousart, Ascacíbar, Darida (74’ Stark), Serdar (63’ Mittelstädt), Prince (63’ Belfodil); Selke (78’ Ekkelenkamp)
VfB Stuttgart: Müller; Stenzel (24‘ Thommy), Mavropanos, Ito, Sosa; Anton, Endo, Mangala (71‘ Tibidi), Tomás (87‘ Coulibaly), Führich (87‘ Millot); Kalajdžić
Goals: 1-0 Selke (4’), 2-0 Belfodil (90+3’)
Referee: Felix Brych
Yellow cards: Fotheringham, Darida; Endo
Attendance: 54,589