FC Schalke 04 overran Hertha BSC in an intense relegation duel. Berlin had blatant problems, especially defensively. S04 beat the capital city 5:2 (2:1).
Tim Skarke gave the hosts an early lead (3rd minute) before Marius Bülter made it 2-0 for S04. In injury time in the first half, Berlin made the connection through Stevan Jovetic (45 +3). After the break, Simon Terodde increased after a counterattack (48′). Deep in the second half, Bülter scored his second goal before Marco Richter ensured the result was cosmetic from Berlin’s point of view (84th). Marcin Kaminski scored the final point with an artfully converted free kick from about 18 meters (90 +2). Schalke jumped to the relegation place, Berlin is the new bottom of the table.
Reis: “The pressure was immense.”
“We came in very well in both halves, the two early goals helped us a lot”said Schalke coach Thomas Reis after the game, “The pressure was immense, I wanted to spread it over several shoulders. The team invested a lot, it’s very important to keep the three points here.” His Berlin colleague Sandro Schwarz analyzed candidly: “We simply defended far too badly overall, and the goals we conceded were largely to blame for our tackle behavior. We always had phases where it was our turn, but we deserved to lose.”
Hertha’s defense with disaster launch
Hertha got off to a catastrophic start in the Arena at Schalke. The entire defense looked on almost inactively as Skarke adjusted the ball from the edge of the box and hit the top right corner of the goal. The back team also showed no resistance when the hosts scored the second: Skarke served Bülter in the center of the attack with a cross from the right, Bülter could raise with his head. “Königsblau” had bad luck when keeper Ralf Fährmann had to be taken out of the game injured. The goalie apparently sustained a muscle injury during a sprint.
Offensively, the Herthaners came together more. Several successful actions had not yet caused a great danger of scoring. But Stevan pulled himself together Jovetic in stoppage time in the first half, took a shot from a good 16 yards on the left: the ball spun into the Schalke goal. The guests from the capital drew hope when walking into the dressing room.
Schalke increases shortly after the change of sides
But just like in the first part of the game, Schalke struck again quickly: When Kenan Karaman ran on the right side to the baseline, passed inside, where Terodde was right in the style of a goalscorer and only needed to push the ball in. Here, too, the defense of the capital city showed its bare side.
Bülter secured the victory for the hosts when he played a wide ball forward after a mistake by the Berliners in the game keepers Oliver Christensen reached and shot into the goal from more than 30 meters.
Richter shortened late when Hertha again successfully completed a counterattack via Wilfried Kanga, who saw Richter running in the middle and staged it perfectly. Richter suffered a laceration in the eye because Henning Matriciani apparently unintentionally hit the goal scorer with his hand while running back. In stoppage time, Kaminski converted a free kick, which he carefully lifted over the wall and into the left corner to score.
Hertha welcomes Bremen, Schalke in Freiburg
On Matchday 29, Hertha is challenged at home against SV Werder Bremen (Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.). Schalke plays at SC Freiburg a day later (3:30 p.m.).