Corona, red card, barn door
Hertha’s hope shines bright as the night
2/20/2022, 9:24 p.m
Another chaotic week, eight Corona failures and with Leipzig one of the strongest teams in the league as guests. For a short time, the hope of winning a point flickers. Then it’s going to be powerful. The Berliners remain the clumsy kings of the league and deep in the relegation battle.
After the fuss surrounding investor Lars Windhorst, Hertha BSC is also sliding deeper and deeper into the crisis. The team of coach Tayfun Korkut, which was severely decimated by six further corona cases, got badly under the wheels against RB Leipzig with 1: 6 (0: 1). After six games without a win in the Bundesliga, the pressure in the relegation battle for Hertha in 15th place is increasing.
Benjamin Henrichs (20′), Christopher Nkunku (64′, penalty kick/67′), Dani Olmo (74′), Amadou Haidara (82′) and Yussuf Poulsen (88′) scored for Leipzig. Stevan Jovetic scored the temporary equalizer (48th) for the Berliners, who were outnumbered after Marc Oliver Kempf (62nd, emergency brake) was sent off.
With 37 points, RB is still involved in the close race for the Champions League and is tied for fourth place in front of TSG Hoffenheim and SC Freiburg. The Berliners, on the other hand, are still only separated by one point from relegation rank 16.
Corona chaos before the game
Shortly before the game, Hertha had to digest a corona shock: Jurgen Ekkelenkamp, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Marvin Plattenhardt, Lukas Klünter and Dong-Jun Lee were missing along with Niklas Stark and Suat Serdar due to positive tests.
Investor Windhorst had previously caused unrest with his harsh criticism of the club leadership. Before the game, however, Korkut had emphasized that he should focus on the sporting side: “If we can help with good sporting performance to ensure that everything relaxes,” he was the “first to go ahead”.
In the Olympic Stadium, however, Leipzig took control of the game. The first dangerous chance then belonged to the guests. However, Nordi Mukiele shot wide of the goal on the left (9th). Hertha made it difficult for RB, but Leipzig’s patience paid off. Henrichs scored the lead, the first attempt was parried by Alexander Schwolow, who had a margin.
Hertha breaks up after red
Hertha tried to hit back straight away, but Ishak Belfodil nodded the ball wide of the goal (23′). A little later, Josko Gvardiol brought down Marco Richter. The free kick that followed was no problem for RB keeper Peter Gulacsi (36′). Hertha tried to equalize as a result, but did not come to placed conclusions.
The Berliners were not discouraged by the deficit and so Jovetic equalized, who could have scored the lead a little later, but the attacker fired the shot over the goal (50th). Hertha continued to play bravely, both teams were looking for a way forward.
But then Kempf saw red after an emergency brake to Nkunku, who converted the subsequent penalty and extended the lead a little later. Olmo followed suit, Hertha went under.