Werder stops team of the hour: Union makes everything much worse for Hertha

The Berlin city derby ends in defeat for Hertha BSC for the fifth time in a row, while 1. FC Union put Bayern under pressure. SV Werder stops Wolfsburg’s goal festival at the start of the second half of the Bundesliga and Bochum suffers a setback in the relegation battle.

Hertha BSC – 1. FC Union Berlin 0: 2 (0: 1)

Union won the Berlin city championship again and Hertha BSC fell even deeper into the crisis. Coach Urs Fischer’s team won the intensive eighth Bundesliga duel between the two capital clubs 2-0 (1-0) and, second in the table, remains the first pursuer of record champions and leaders Bayern Munich. Danilho Doekhi (44′) and Paul Seguin (67′) perfected Union’s fifth win against Hertha in a row and prevented a liberation from local rivals, who had held out for a long time. Coach Sandro Schwarz’s team ultimately conceded their third defeat in the new year and, as the penultimate team, remains in acute relegation trouble.

The 74,667 fans in the sold-out Olympic Stadium – most of them in blue and white – provided the right derby backdrop. And Hertha tried hard not to silence the loud encouragement from the ranks. Despite the recent low blows against VfL Bochum and VfL Wolfsburg, the intensity, mentality and body language were right. Duels were accepted, balls were won back with a willingness to run, the positional game worked. Union’s play structure suffered as a result. Hertha did not create any danger from their own possession of the ball.

Union was solid defensively despite the initial set-up mistakes, but had major problems on the offensive. A few counterattacks via the fast Sheraldo Becker were played out uncleanly. Long balls cleared Hertha’s defense safely. The game was characterized by intense duels. Goal chances were rare, Marco Richter (33) aimed too high at Hertha’s greatest opportunity before the break from a central position. Union only became a little more dangerous at the end of the first half.

Hertha was unsure about opposing standards and was punished. Doekhi headed free from a free kick, Union’s first shot at the Hertha goal brought the lead – once again the Köpenickers proved their enormous effectiveness. A gasping after the shock was only partially recognizable. Hertha kept trying in the second half, but attacks usually fizzled out before the last third. Seguin made the preliminary decision after a counterattack.

SV Werder Bremen – VfL Wolfsburg 2: 1 (1: 0)

Free fall stopped, sigh of relief on the Weser thanks to Niclas Füllkrug: Werder Bremen has won again after four bankruptcies in a row, coach Ole Werner’s team fought a 2-1 (1-0) win over VfL Wolfsburg at the start of the second half of the season . Scorer Füllkrug (24th, penalty kick/77th) made the fans in the Weser Stadium cheer thanks to his double pack. He increased his tally of goals this season to 13 and was once again the match winner for the Hanseatic League. Kevin Paredes (90th) only managed the connection goal, for Wolfsburg a series of six wins in a row came to an end.

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(Photo: IMAGO/Nordphoto)

Wolfsburg had the first good chance of the game through Patrick Wimmer right after the kick-off and showed the better systems, but Werder fought back with a lot of passion even without Leonardo Bittencourt (cold). And so the tour by Füllkrug was not undeserved. After the Bremen offensive actions had previously lacked precision, the national player then turned ice-cold into the right corner of the point according to video evidence.

The spectators on the Weser saw an intense game with chances for both sides. Mattias Svanberg hit the bar for Wolfsburg (35′), on the other hand the goal gave Werder a boost and confidence. Füllkrug had other good chances a little later (36’/38’/71′).

As the game progressed, Werder concentrated primarily on being defensive and relieving them with counterattacks. Wolfsburg built up more and more pressure, but often lacked the determination from previous games. Werder fought for every ball and decided the game with Füllkrug’s second goal.

1. FSV Mainz 05 – VfL Bochum 5: 2 (3: 0)

FSV Mainz 05 has impressively avoided falling into the bottom of the table and increased VfL Bochum’s concerns about relegation. With a lightning goal, attractive attacking football and an outstanding Karim Onisiwo, the Rheinhessen led the long and frighteningly weak team of coach Thomas Letsch in phases to a deserved 5:2 (3:0) and extended their lead over the danger zone to seven points. Jae-Sung Lee (1st) gave Mainz a dream start, Silvan Widmer (17th) and the extremely strong Onisiwo (28th/57th/87th) followed suit and rewarded Bo Svensson’s team for a long and furious performance. In addition, the negative series of six Bundesliga games ended without a win.

Pierre Kunde Malong (70′) and Erhan Masovic (72′) reduced the lead again, but Letsch’s team woke up too late. For Bochum, the situation worsened again after the recent successes, it was already the ninth defeat in the tenth away game. Less than a minute was played before Lee used the first shot on target from close range to take the lead, as he did against Borussia Dortmund (1-2) during the week.

Mainz, who last won against 1. FC Köln (5-0) in October, continued to push, the raid-like attacks didn’t give Bochum any time to breathe. When VfL got into the game a little better, Widmer raised. Onisiwo provided the preparatory work, who benefited from a blatant mistake by Bochum’s Danilo Soares in the third goal. A harmless free kick from Kevin Stöger (20′), plus many mistakes and no passion: That was all from Bochum, who saved themselves during the break – and were lucky that Onisiwo failed free in front of VfL goalkeeper Manuel Riemann (30′). .

Letsch was by no means satisfied, he brought on four fresh players in the second half. However, this did not change anything in the course of the game. Mainz kept control and showed great joy in the game again and again. Always right in the middle: Onisiwo. After strong preliminary work from Barreiro, the Austrian raised. Only in the final phase did Bochum suddenly take part in the game and drew some hope from goals from Kunde Malong and Masovic. But again Onisiwo had the right answer.

SC Freiburg – FC Augsburg 3: 1 (2: 1)

Thanks to great effectiveness, SC Freiburg has clinched its first win of the new year. After just one point from two games, coach Christian Streich’s team beat FC Augsburg 3-1 (2-1) and are now hot on their heels with 34 points. The strong Michael Gregoritsch (13th), Lucas Höler (30th) and Philipp Lienhart (85th) scored for Freiburg in front of 33,500 spectators in the Europa-Park stadium. Mergim Berisha (29th) had provided the interim equalizer with a penalty kick. After their tenth defeat of the season, Augsburg is stuck in the bottom third of the table.

Freiburg started cautiously and often let Augsburg have the ball. But defensively, Breisgau were stable and, like against Frankfurt, didn’t let anything burn. With the first clear offensive action, Freiburg then took the lead. After a long pass from his own half, the ball landed at Keitel. The 22-year-old staged Gregoritsch, who hit the far corner with a well-placed shot from a tight angle (13′). The hosts now took control of the game and tried to calm the game with a lot of possession.

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Gregoritsch put Freiburg in the lead.

(Photo: dpa)

In the 27th minute, referee Christian Dingert awarded Augsburg a penalty after a foul on former Freiburg player Ermedin Demirovic. After a short check by the video assistant, Berisha (29th) converted safely. But Freiburg was not shocked and took the lead again just 13 seconds later: after just three stops, the ball landed at Höler, who only had to push in from close range (30′). As a result, the game became more heated both on and off the pitch and there were more intense duels. Both teams had chances just before half-time. But while Gregoritsch failed on the strong Gikiewicz (39th), Berisha missed the equalizer with a header (40th).

After the change of sides, Augsburg pressed for the equalizer, but they rarely had any chances worth mentioning (58′). Freiburg continued to try to be dangerous with long balls, but were initially not compelling enough to score (59th/71st). It was then up to Lienhart to make the decision.

TSG Hoffenheim – Borussia Monchengladbach 1: 4 (0: 2)

Led by double packer Jonas Hofmann, Borussia Mönchengladbach pushed TSG Hoffenheim even deeper into the crisis. Hoffenheim lost 1: 4 (0: 2) to Borussia and have been waiting for a win for eight games now. Only two points are for TSG in this period. National player Hofmann (12th/37th), captain Lars Stindl (83rd) and Hannes Wolf (90th + 1) scored for Gladbach, who had lost their first two games of the new year. The success in Sinsheim was Borussia’s first away three of the current season. Hoffenheim, who fall far short of expectations, are threatened with a relegation battle – the goal from Ihlas Bebou (80th) did not change that.

In front of 24,119 spectators, both teams started the game slowly. Hoffenheim, with newcomer John Anthony Brooks in the starting line-up, gained an optical advantage after around ten minutes – but the first strong counterattack by the guests led directly to Hofmann’s lead after Stindl’s preliminary work. The weakened hosts immediately had the chance to equalize. Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner failed to get the ball over the goal line (13′).

Afterwards, the Gladbachers determined what happened. Borussia’s second goal seemed only a matter of time. The harmless Hoffenheim team hardly achieved anything constructive. After half an hour, the fans loudly demanded more effort from the hosts, but the hoped-for reaction didn’t materialize – quite the opposite: Hofmann scored again after a counterattack that made the newly formed Hoffenheim defense look bad again. Again Stindl had played the decisive pass.

At the beginning of the second half, Hoffenheim brought more energy onto the pitch, but coach Andre Breitenreiter’s team was initially unable to create any real chances. Only after about an hour did the hosts develop more pressure. The Gladbachers acted too passively in this phase. Nevertheless, Stindl had the third guest goal on the foot in another counterattack (66th). Eleven minutes later, Andrej Kramaric missed the hitherto best opportunity to connect, seconds later Baumgartner hit the post with a header (78′). Stindl answered Bebou’s goal just three minutes later.

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