The turnaround seems to have been achieved: Hertha BSC has left the relegation zone and is finding new hope in the fight to stay up.
Snowflakes whirled through the Olympic Stadium, the cold crept into every crack, but even the dreadful weather in Berlin couldn’t dampen the spirits of the suffering professionals from Hertha BSC. Coach Sandro Schwarz’s players celebrated arm in arm in front of the east curve, which spontaneously intoned “Oh, how nice that is”. After months of depression, the capital club has real hope again in the relegation battle.
“It feels good to have the feeling of victory,” admitted Schwarz after the hard-fought 2-0 (0-0) in the basement duel against FC Augsburg. Finally, his team jumped from the penultimate place in the table to non-relegation rank 14, although the coach was less interested in this. “Of course you look at the table in the relegation battle. But it’s not a liberating feeling,” says Schwarz, he’s more concerned with the good performance that his team has shown for the third time in a row.
After four bankruptcies at the beginning of the year, the explosive separation from sports director Fredi Bobic and media speculation about a black out, Hertha really seems to be on the mend. The 4-1 home win against Borussia Mönchengladbach two weeks ago was the initial spark, the 4-1 defeat at Borussia Dortmund was also a lot of positives – and now this extremely mature performance against FCA followed.
“In the last three games you saw a turnaround,” said Hertha’s Winter access Florian Niederlechner, who came from Augsburg of all places, on Sky: “The win today gives us a good feeling and we have to see that we perform the same in Leverkusen next week , to hopefully get the second win in a row.”
Should Hertha actually win again at Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday (3.30 p.m. / DAZN), the relegation zone could slowly move further and further into the distance. One reason for this is the “substantive stability,” as Schwarz calls it.
In a low-level but hard-fought first half against Augsburg, the Berliners accepted the duels and were compact themselves. When there were few chances to score in the snow in the second half, ex-Augsburg player Marco Richter (61st) and Dodi Lukebakio (69th) struck coldly. This is how the relegation battle works.
No outrageous mistakes that have cost Hertha a number of points in the past. And no unrest in the team! “Everyone marches for the other and we’re a really great squad. It’s a lot of fun at the moment,” said Niederlechner, who was able to start against Augsburg despite discussions about a non-use clause.
The attacker, who was constantly working, didn’t do too much, the 32-year-old is still waiting for his first goal in blue and white – but his attitude is symbolic of the new Hertha. “I hope the goals and assists will follow,” said Niederlechner: “But I said from the start: I don’t give a shit – the main thing is that we achieve the goal of staying up in the league.”