“I witnessed Tim Walter football in Stuttgart – so it was clear to me that we could make mistakes. That’s why we said we wouldn’t do it lazily, but put pressure on it,” explains Marc Oliver Kempf. On the other hand, the playful class of Jovetic, Boateng and Ishak Belfodil also comes into play. The offensive trio always manages to hold balls well, set up triangles and thus open up spaces in the last third.
That too is by no means the high science of this sport, but still something that Hertha sees far too seldom. The better division of space and a clean combination game give the capital city an above-average number of opportunities – after 35 minutes there are more than in the entire first leg.
Plattenhardt’s free kick for eternity
So it seems in the second round as if Hertha had already shot his powder a bit. The constant high running up, the physicality in the duel and the disciplined shifting take their toll. If HSV didn’t have any chances worth mentioning in the first half, a much more open exchange of blows developed after the tea break.
In the meantime, Hertha actually seems to be giving up the reins of action. In these minutes, Hertha fans curse the hope that was unexpectedly given to them again – they associate it with countless experiences that only ended in pain.
But once again it is Marvin Plattenhardt’s golden foot that achieves great things. In the 63rd minute, the left-back takes a free kick. Half right, a good position. A position that usually ends with a cross, but as a football fan there is always hope that the shooter will try it directly. “He wouldn’t.”
He would – and how. Plattenhardt gives the ball a mathematically beautiful trajectory that lets it fall over goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes into the goal. 2:0 – a dream goal out of nowhere. As a result, the rudimentary struggle for survival begins. Minutes that feel like hours, countless crosses and tackles, wave after wave of attacks. But Hertha held out, didn’t give HSV an inch too much and brought the result over time. Mission accomplished.