Sometimes the bells strike to the minute. It comes, as it must. Anyone who bundled the information from the past few days had to assume that Berlin’s Hertha would strike the hour on Sunday. Hertha had not won any of their six games in the current calendar year – and especially on Sunday due to Corona, they had eight failures, and there were only two players with professional contracts on the bench. Not to mention all the problems surrounding it. And now, what can one say: it actually happened as it had to.
Hertha kept up with RB Leipzig for an hour, the score was 1-1. But then Leipzig turned things around with the substitution of Dani Olmo, the Spaniard had been rested for the Europa League second leg against San Sebastián – and RB won 6-1. “These are hard times,” said the stadium announcer when the final whistle was a little over half an hour away. After that it was clear: They are getting harder. If only because Marc Kempf will be missing in the upcoming game after a red card. And of course because the gap to the relegation zone is only four points.
The first goal of the Leipzig team came with the second reasonably carried out attack. After right-back Nordi Mukiele failed from an acute angle (9′) and the game seemed to be developing into a tough affair, Dominik Szoboszlai unscrewed Hertha’s defensive order with a single action in midfield.
Mukiele and Poulsen reserved the best hits of the evening for themselves
After a pass from Hungary, Yussuf Poulsen was able to fix the ball in the penalty area and put it to the left, where Benjamin Henrichs scored the second attempt. Alexander Schwolow parried the first Henrichs shot, then the international, a trained right-back, tried his weak left foot. And had the fortune that the 17-year-old central defender Linus Gechter unluckily deflected the ball into his own goal (20th).
The leadership of Leipzig was understandable in the light of the balance of power on the lawn. After that, however, Leipzig was not able to create chances that absolutely deserved the title. The only exception: a free kick from Szoboszlai, which Schwolow saved (27′). The reason was that Hertha threw a little sand into Leipzig’s attacking machine with a compact, defensive three-man midfield in front of the back four and thus prevented fast-paced actions. Conversely, Hertha only put one ball on Leipzig’s goal – when Stevan Jovetic also took a direct free kick (26th). Two unplaced headers from Ishak Belfodil and Marco Richter were otherwise the highest of the offensive feelings of the Berliners.
Within three minutes, Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku (centre) scored twice.
(Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
After the break, Hertha equalized to a large extent – and Stevan Jovetic scored ten brilliant minutes. After Santi Ascacíbar had won the ball, Jovetic started a 50-meter solo and shot from almost 20 meters. Gvardiol deflected and the ball landed in the Leipzig goal out of reach of goalkeeper Gulacsi (49′). That ignited the soul of Berlin: Barely a minute after the goal, Jovetic shot freely in front of the goal after a cross from Richter – and put it over the goal (53.).
Marco Richter brought him on a minute later after a disastrous back pass from Mukiele, but this time Gulacsi saved. Tedesco moved the bench: Konrad Laimer and Dani Olmo came on for Forsberg and Szoboszlai (60′), and that had an immediate effect. Olmo played a dream pass to Nkunku, which Kempf could only stop with an emergency brake in the penalty area. Kempf was sent off. Nkunku converted the penalty himself (64th) to make it 2-1. Three minutes later, the Olmo-Nkunku duo again practiced brilliant harmony, leading to 3:1. Leipzig’s fourth goal was scored by Olmo himself – a sweeping goal.
Amadou Haidara and Poulsen then reserved the best goals of the evening for themselves. The midfielder scored with a long-range shot that is well worth seeing, Poulsen lobbed the ball over Schwolow to make it 6-1 (88th) – after Olmo’s fourth goal involvement, who on Sunday became the guarantor for the consolidation of Leipzig’s Champions League ambitions.