The 3,000 fans admitted whistled, the players stood helplessly on the lawn: Hertha BSC simply cannot win in the Olympic Stadium this year. The Berlin Bundesliga club did not get beyond a disappointing 1-1 (1-0) against VfL Bochum on Friday evening and also failed to win in the fourth home game in 2022.
After the opening goal by Ishak Belfodil in the 23rd minute, former Union Berlin professional Sebastian Polter (48th) equalized. In the table, VfL (eleventh place/25 points) maintained the two-point lead over Hertha (23), who were initially in twelfth place.
“In the first half we were clearly the better team,” said newcomer Marc Oliver Kempf at DAZN. “With a shot on goal that was a bit dangerous,” his team conceded the equalizer. “The one goal I conceded really annoys me, it would have been nicer to keep a clean sheet,” said Kempf.
The Berliners initially started with a lot of enthusiasm from the short international break. Korkut had made five changes to his starting XI after the 4-1 loss to FC Bayern, and Kempf was supposed to stabilize central defense straight away. Stevan Jovetic reported fit in time – but Vladimir Darida fired the first shot, VfL goalkeeper Manuel Riemann saved safely (4th). Santiago Ascacibar’s attempt went just over it (15′).
The high pressure of the Berliners initially caused great difficulties for the guests. The tentative attempts to attack, especially via the fast Gerrit Holtmann, rarely led to the goal. In the evening, VfL trainer Thomas Reis had to do without the professionals Anthony Losilla and Eduard Löwen (on loan from Hertha), who were infected with Corona. Captain Losilla recently described Reis as “the heart of the team”.
Schwolow lets the shot bounce off, turns Polter
And without this, VfL fell behind: Belfodil converted a free kick from Jovetic with a header, the Berliners scored in the eleventh home game of the season. There was no direct response from Bochum, which was also due to the hosts’ concentrated defensive work in the first half. To make matters worse, Maximilian Mittelstädt’s shot was deflected almost into his own goal by VfL professional Maxim Leitsch (35′).
Reis seemed anything but satisfied on the sidelines, VfL had already lost the first leg. In the second half, the VfL coach brought in Patrick Osterhage for Takuma Asano and Polter for Robert Tesche, and Polter fitted in perfectly from the start. After a long shot from Riemann, he put Jürgen Locadia in position, whose shot let Hertha keeper Alexander Schwolow rebound forward. Polter didn’t miss the chance to score – his seventh goal of the season.
The Berliners recovered quickly afterwards. Korkut also reacted with changes, including new signing Dongjun Lee (58′), and later Fredrik André Bjorkan (75′). Both teams played happily forward for the rest of the season, but acted too hectically at times. Riemann held against Jovetic (66th), on the other hand Milos Pantovic (71st) tried it.