Hertha BSC 2-3 Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund climbed back to the top of the Bundesliga tonight after winning a five-goal thriller in front of a massive 75,000 crowd at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
With the match tied going into injury time, it was captain marvel Marco Reus who fired home the winner after man-of-the-match Jadon Sancho teed him up. And that was hard on the hosts who had been ahead twice through goals from Ivory Coast striker Salamon Kalou.
Hertha are a team without big names but battled hard as a group and ended the game with nine men. They certainly left nothing on the pitch after seven minutes of injury time. But make no mistake; this was a huge win for Borussia Dortmund in the chase for the title as they try to hold off the might of FC Bayern.
There’s still a long way to go and Lucien Favre’s team is well in the hunt; we’ll be there right to the finish with all the hot-off-the-press Bundesliga 2019 news.
Highlights of the game
Hertha got off to the perfect start, going ahead on just four minutes. Davie Selke passed to Maximilian Mittelstadt, and he hit a low shot heading for the corner that BVB keeper Roman Burki saved, but he could do nothing to stop Salomon Kalou as he poked the ball home from close range.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to get on level terms, though, and it was midfield ace Thomas Delaney who fired home after a lightning break. What a start!
Dortmund began to take control of the game, and Rune Jarstein was busy in the Hertha goal, saving well from Jacob Bruun Larsen after Marco Reus had put the striker in. But Favre’s team couldn’t get the second and they went behind again, against the run of play, after Julian Weigl handled in the penalty area. Kalou took the responsibility and coolly slotted the spot-kick home in the bottom-left corner.
So BVB went into the break behind, and Favre had some work to do.
Christian Pulisic was BVB’s match-winner against Stuttgart last week, and he made a start in Berlin. And he came close to levelling just after the break with a low strike, but Jarstein was equal to it again. But the visitors did draw level once more when Dan-Axel Zagadou headed home from a Jadon Sancho corner.
The young England starlet is top of the assists table in this year’s Bundesliga and he’s becoming a hotter prospect by the week. Dortmund’s sporting director, Michael Zorc, has insisted he’ll still be at the club next season and they will do well to keep hold of him.
Pulisic saw another good effort saved and then he linked up with Sancho, but the England man’s shot from the left edge of the penalty area was charged down. The hosts went down to ten men, with five minutes remaining, when Jordan Torunarigha received a second yellow for a nasty foul on Achraf Hakimi, and then it was all hands to the pump.
It looked like Hertha was about to hold out, but then Sancho weaved his magic again deep into injury time, teeing up Reus for the skipper to slam home the winner into the bottom-right corner to send the visiting hoards wild.
Tempers flared in the home camp and Hertha finished with nine men when Vedad Ibisevic was red-carded for violent conduct.
Key statistics
The Hertha vs BVB betting tips generally agreed on an away win, but that was mighty close!
The hosts put up a good fight with a decent share of possession, but BVB peppered their goal with shots, firing 25 in with eight on target, while Hertha managed four on target from seven efforts.
It was a frantic game and neither side managed to reach 80 per cent passing accuracy. But it wasn’t a dirty game, with just 16 fouls committed, though the first of Hertha’s two red cards cost the home side dearly.
What’s next?
Hertha Berlin have an away game to RB Leipzig next, and that will be a tough test against the third-placed side. And then they return to Berlin for a mid-table clash at home to Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Borussia Dortmund are at home to Wolfsburg and will expect to win against the side destroyed 6-0 by FC Bayern last week. The SBOBET Bundesliga 2019 is coming to a climax, and we can expect drama like this by the week.
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