After the next debacle, the Hertha players were greeted with icy silence. When going into the curve, there weren’t even whistles from the disappointed supporters. Niko Kovac gave his old love Hertha BSC a bad stab with his VfL Wolfsburg in the relegation battle. Three days after the six-pack against SC Freiburg, the Lower Saxony experienced the next goal frenzy in the 5-0 (3-0) in Berlin and exacerbated the mood of crisis in the frighteningly helpless capital city club. Mattias Svanberg (4th minute), Maximilian Arnold (31st/penalty), Jonas Wind (34th), Ridle Baku (72nd) and Omar Marmoush (86th) scored the goals in the one-sided game.
While Wolfsburg is now on course for the European Cup with ten games without defeat, the desolate Hertha remains in 17th place at the end of the first half of the Bundesliga. On Tuesday, in front of 29,483 spectators in the Olympic Stadium, the Berliners suffered their heaviest defeat of the season and conceded five goals for the first time.
“I wish the club that they get out of there. My heart is in Hertha,” said Kovac, who was very satisfied with his team’s performance: “It was a great performance in an away game.” Kovac’s coaching colleague Sandro Schwarz has to get the blue and whites up quickly, otherwise there is a risk of the next defeat in the derby against 1. FC Union Berlin on Saturday. Central defender Agustin Rogel, who saw his fifth yellow card, will not be there.
The friendly embrace of the coaches before kick-off was quite intimate. The original Berliner Kovac may have whispered to the current Hertha coach Schwarz that he should please save his “home club”. On this lousy cold evening in the Olympic Stadium, there was a suspicion that this wish would remain an impossible one to fulfil. Schwarz had demanded much more intensity and aggressiveness from his players after the 1:3 disappointment in Bochum. He was offered exactly the opposite from the start. Svanberg duped the entire Berlin defensive network with a horizontal run through the Hertha penalty area and scored his first Bundesliga goal, which is well worth seeing.
Even in Bochum, Schwarz missed an answer to an early deficit. This time happened at Hertha in terms of coordinated play structure: Nothing. A shot from Suat Serdar (24th) was everything. Dodi Lukebakio – recently suspended and now a beacon of hope simply because of his return – dribbled the ball uncontrollably out of bounds. Even worse: After Rogel was only able to compensate for his personal speed limit with a rude bump against Patrick Wimmer, Lukebakio fended off the following free kick in the wall quite clumsily with his elbow. Arnold converted the penalty safely.
“We want to see you fight,” echoed the ranks. On the grandstand, Hertha’s managing director Fredi Bobic and the still ailing winter signing Florian Niederlechner looked quite contrite. The liberated Wolfsburg showed how easy football can be even at freezing point. Wind quickly added the third goal.
For the second half, Kevin-Prince Boateng swore in his colleagues in front of the substitute bench. That had an effect at first. At least there was fighting now. Hertha now played braver, showed at least one face-saving performance and also benefited from the fact that the mellow Wolfsburg allowed a little more. However, the attack efforts did not have resounding success. Instead, Wolfsburg even followed up twice.
Stuttgart gives the victory out of hand
Bruno Labbadia applauded towards the guest fans. However, the coach was not able to celebrate his first victory in the second game after his return to VfB Stuttgart. The Swabians drew 2-2 (1-1) at national rivals TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Tuesday evening and only conceded the equalizer in injury time. The battered and tough game gave the only 23,159 spectators in the Sinsheim stadium a foretaste of the relegation battle in the second half of the Bundesliga season.
The Croatian World Cup third Andrej Kramaric gave the troubled TSG an early lead (11th minute) and also scored the 2-2 equalizer (90+4). Serhou Guirassy (45’+5′) and captain Wataru Endo (77′) scored for VfB. A little later, Stuttgart’s Naouirou Ahamada (78th) saw the yellow-red card.
“If you make it 2-2 at the end, that’s more of a positive. The whole game was very balanced,” said Hoffenheim’s Sebastian Rudy on Sky. The Stuttgarters missed their first away win in over a year, most recently on December 11, 2021 they won 2-0 in Wolfsburg. André Breitenreiter’s Hoffenheim team are still three points ahead of VfB, but have now recorded just one win in the past eleven games and have been without three points in seven games.
With the veterans Kramaric, Rudy and Pavel Kaderabek in the starting XI, Hoffenheim took on the challenge on matchday 17. The defender Kevin Vogt, who was injured recently, was able to play, but had to stay in the dressing room again at the break. His long-term sidekick Benjamin Hübner was officially dismissed: after a series of injuries, the ex-captain announced in December that he was retiring at the age of 33. Rudy promptly brought ball security to his team in a hectic early phase when the Stuttgarters could hardly manage a combination. Kramaric extended a lob from Angeliño into the net – the early 1-0 gave the hosts security.
After just under half an hour, winger Robert Skov had to leave the field. Tiago Tomás fared the same on the other side, he was replaced by Chris Führich, who enlivened the VfB game. Labbadia had trusted the same VfB starting formation as in the 1-1 draw against Mainz 05. Atakan Karazor, who he recently praised, tried to calm down his team’s game a bit, but for a long time almost nothing went forward. TSG’s initial offensive also fizzled out quickly – so a little respectable game developed.
To make matters worse, VfB defenders Konstantinos Mavropanos and Ihlas Bebou clashed their heads. The former continued with a laceration and a forehead bandage. Silas Katompa Mvumpa missed Stuttgart’s first chance shortly before the change – and the disaster for Hoffenheim took its course: goalkeeper Oliver Baumann rammed Angeliño, then Vogt lay dazed on the ground. Serhou Guirassy took advantage of this hectic pace in the TSG back team with a shot into the corner to make it 1-1.
Despite the inclusion of attacker Munas Dabbur and playful superiority, the Kraichgau remained harmless even after the break. The Stuttgart now dared to do something and plunged the TSG into many an embarrassment. Endo punished Hoffenheim for their lack of pressure and nervous game with the 2:1. Dabbur initially missed the chance to equalize – but Kramaric made sure to celebrate the 2:2 late on.