Victory in the top game
Cracking goal shortly before the end: Hertha shocks Düsseldorf
Updated 10/25/2025 – 10:39 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
A competitive game develops between the capital club and the Rhinelanders. Shortly before the end, the Berliners are unlucky. But then comes injury time.
With a very late goal, Hertha BSC won the top game of the 2nd Bundesliga 1-0 (0-0) against Fortuna Düsseldorf. Maurice Krattenmacher scored in stoppage time to give Berlin a celebrated victory (90+6).
In a hard-fought and tough game on Saturday evening, Hertha missed out on finding the goal earlier thanks to a few top-class chances in the final phase. Düsseldorf, which weakened in the second half of the game after a strong initial phase, also remained dangerous until added time.
Both teams will be back in the DFB Cup in just a few days: Hertha will host league rivals SV Elversberg on Tuesday, while Düsseldorf will be underdogs against Bundesliga side SC Freiburg on Wednesday.
Fortuna dominated the initial phase, easily getting into the Berlin penalty area and making free shots there. After 20 minutes it could have been 4-0 after chances from Christian Rasmussen or Tim Oberdorf. According to official statistics, the guests had 15 shots on goal before halftime – no second division team had ever had so many shots before half-time this season.
After a nervous start with a high error rate, Hertha stabilized after 30 minutes. In the final third, the home team made almost entirely wrong decisions.
The longer the game lasted, the more pressure and goal threat Hertha developed. The capital club looked fresher and had three big chances through Dagur Thorsteinsson and Fabian Reese. In the end, however, both teams lacked quality – until Krattenmacher redeemed around 40,000 fans in the Olympic Stadium.