Hertha would have needed a small miracle in the end. Something like Hamburger SV experienced in 2015, when Marcelo Diaz scored the equalizer against Karlsruher SC with a free kick in injury time of the second relegation game, which saved HSV first in extra time and finally in the class. Such a miracle would have been needed on Thursday evening in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. But the minutes of regular playing time elapsed, and so did the minutes of added time. And it happened: nothing. In the end, Hertha BSC, who were still in the Bundesliga, lost the first relegation game to Hamburger SV, who were still in the second division, 1-0.
Should Felix Magath really fail this time? The Hertha team went to a short training camp before the game. For two days they stayed at the Olympic training center in Kienbaum, around 40 kilometers from the gates of the capital – “because this is where the winners come from,” as Magath said. Olympic champions and world champions have trained here, you can smell it everywhere, the Hertha trainer put it somewhat ambiguously. At Hertha, it still smells badly of relegation.
Discus thrower Robert Harting is one of the best-known Berlin athletes who prepared for competitions in Kienbaum. At his best, Harting was able to throw the discus around 70 meters, i.e. from a goal far into the opposing half. Hertha also had one that evening after Magath had had to make a substitution at the back before the game. For first-choice goalkeeper Marcel Lotka, who has not yet recovered from a collision with a Dortmund goalpost last Saturday, Oliver Christensen came into the Berlin goal – the first game of the season for the 23-year-old Dane.
Christensen followed in Harting’s footsteps, as he also liked to carry the sports equipment far into the Hamburg half, although of course without Hertha feeling the same happiness as the discus thrower once did. On the other hand, because the Hamburgers showed little ambition to test Christensen’s qualities as a goalkeeper, a game developed over long stretches with many grueling duels around the center line, only very occasional approaches to the edge of the penalty area and a few shots that you only get with good will could register as an opportunity.
The longer the game lasts, the more despondent and flabby Magath’s Hertha seems
Hertha mostly tried it down the left flank, where Marvin Plattenhardt and Maximilian Mittelstädt tried again and again to turn around their opponents. Much more than a short phase of pressure with a free kick and corner kick and shortly before the break Ishak Belfodil’s header was ruled out for offside. So Magath’s second surprising personality couldn’t really prove itself either. The coach had brought 19-year-old Luca Wollschläger. A more motivated player than he could hardly have been on the field against HSV. Because in the league game in Bielefeld, Wollschläger had missed a great chance to score because he hadn’t expected it and had already turned away, whereupon Hertha even conceded a goal to make it 1-1. Wollschläger put in a lot of effort against HSV, but even his 1.94 meters didn’t help against Hamburg’s air superiority in several Berlin crosses. At the break, Magath replaced him with Stefan Jovetic.
HSV, on the other hand, sometimes got through on the right flank, but Bakery Jatta then played the ball several times where nobody really needed it: behind the goal, across the penalty area or straight to the opponent. So there were several minutes in the first half, during which referee Harm Osmers checked a possible hand penalty for HSV on the television monitor and finally discarded it, the most exciting phase.
Significant for the performance of the Berliners: Hertha’s best scene was an offside goal by Ishak Belfodil (left).
(Photo: Jürgen Engler/Nordphoto / Imago)
On the field, there was initially no overweight in a team in the second half either. In the stands, on the other hand, Hertha supporters made up the clear majority. Yes, logically, one would think, in a home game. But in Berlin there was concern that HSV fans could spread too much after Hertha BSC had opened free ticket sales early on.
Hertha therefore expressly warned the Hamburg fans that “wearing fan clothing of the visiting team is prohibited” outside the blocks intended for the guests. In such cases, security personnel will refuse entry. Such rigidity would also have helped the security forces in the Berlin defense when, in the 57th minute, they did not refuse Ludovit Reis, who took the ball from Miro Muheim and chipped it over Christensen at the far post, from where it hopped into the net .
The goal did the game good – especially the HSV game. Hertha ran in desperately, but not creatively, Hamburg remained far more dangerous on the counterattack and otherwise played the matter down pretty coolly. Hertha now needs the miracle on Monday in Hamburg – but no longer a small miracle, but a big one.