Hertha in penalty luck vs. HSV
Borussia Dortmund’s probably best chance of winning the title this season is gone. BVB was eliminated in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup on Wednesday after a deserved 0-2 (0-0) defeat at VfB Stuttgart, which was still surprisingly strong. Top striker Serhou Guirassy (54th minute) and substitute Silas (77th) scored in front of 54,200 spectators for the Swabians, who celebrated their fourth competitive win in a row and have a lot of confidence in the upcoming league duel with Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
For Dortmund, who have been disappointing for a long time and are already ten points behind leaders Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, important points are at stake against RB Leipzig on Saturday in the fight for the Champions League places.
BVB met Stuttgart’s double leadership of Guirassy and Deniz Undav with a three-man defense chain in which captain Emre Can defended on the right. Unlike the 2-1 defeat in the league three and a half weeks ago, in which they played miserably, the guests managed to largely prevent Stuttgart from having great chances, at least for a while. The best opportunity for VfB, which was dominant but initially too rarely effective, was missed by Undav with a header in the first half (24′). Shortly before the break, a loss of the ball by Dortmund’s Jamie Bynoe-Gittens went unpunished.
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Speaking of ball losses: the runner-up made far too many of them in front of national coach Julian Nagelsmann. BVB hardly put their fast offensive players in the spotlight. Marcel Sabitzer was unlucky with a shot that hit the crossbar (20′), otherwise there wasn’t much going forward for Borussia.
Former captain Marco Reus, Julian Brandt and Niclas Füllkrug had to sit on the bench three days after the 1-1 draw in Leverkusen. Füllkrug replaced the injured Youssoufa Moukoko in the 24th minute, but hardly received any usable crosses in the center of the attack. BVB coach Edin Terzic reacted and brought in Brandt in the second half, who was supposed to provide more relief offensively. Ramy Bensebaini also came on for full-back Marius Wolf, who had suffered an ankle injury in the first half. But Stuttgart remained the team that dominated the game. In the 51st minute, Guirassy was denied by guest keeper Gregor Kobel from close range.
Shortly later, the Swiss goalkeeper had no chance against Guinea’s international striker and got the ball through his legs. It was Guirassy’s 18th competitive goal of the season. In the league duel he scored the decisive goal with a penalty.
VfB almost increased the score to 2-0, but Kobel made another brilliant save against Enzo Millot (58′). On the other side, Bynoe-Gittens’ supposed equalizer was rightly disallowed due to offside (60′). Borussia’s big final offensive was no longer there, but instead there was a second goal for Stuttgart: Joker Silas deliberately pushed the ball into the right corner.
Update 11:03 p.m.: “It was lacking at the front and back today, we weren’t strong enough in the duels, it was a footballing catastrophe, you have to be honest,” said Dortmund national player Emre Can after the 2-0 defeat at ZDF. “It can’t go on like this. We are Dortmund, there has to be more.” We have to sit down and analyze “because it’s just not good enough from us.”
After penalties: Hertha BSC defeats HSV – match winner Reese
Update 11:45 p.m.: Hertha BSC continues to let its fans dream of the final in their own stadium. After a dramatic DFB Cup evening against Hamburger SV, the Berlin second division team moved into the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup. Hertha won 5:3 on penalties. After 120 minutes it was 3:3 (3:3, 2:2) in the Olympic Stadium. In the penalty shootout, Hertha’s goalkeeper Tjark Ernst saved Ransford Königsdörffer, then Fabian Reese happily scored to win.
In front of 58,946 spectators, including several thousand HSV fans, Reese initially gave Hertha under coach Pal Dardai the lead (21st minute). Immanuel Pherai (31′) and Laszlo Benes (43′) struck back before Reese equalized (90′). The Berlin-born Königsdörffer (102nd) initially scored for HSV in extra time, before Jonjoe Kenny (120th) equalized late for the Berliners – and sent them into the ultimately successful penalty shootout.
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The Berliners initially took control of the game, were poisonous in the duels and patient in the build-up. Reese, who was once again in a strong mood, initiated his goal with a solo. First he shot the ball onto the post, then the rebound into the goal. But a small gap was enough for Pherai to place a long-range shot from a good 25 meters to equalize. The Hamburg team got into the game better. Shortly afterwards, Hertha keeper Tjark Ernst was only able to clear a slipped cross at the feet of Benes.
After the change, Hertha was the better team again and started. Reese was there again and scored with a shot from the edge of the penalty area. In extra time, substitute Robert Glatzel passed a cross to Königsdörffer, who also came in, who slotted in. Kenny was successful with the last action.
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