RB Leipzig returns to a Champions League place with a difficult 1-0 at Hertha BSC and increases the problems for the Berliners.
After the final whistle, Sandro Schwarz needed to speak. The Hertha BSC coach gestured wildly towards referee Deniz Aytekin. The decisive goal in the 0: 1 (0: 1) against RB Leipzig had driven him on the palm, the decision after minutes of video evidence he could not understand.
“He was dissatisfied with my performance,” reported Aytekin on “Sky”, “but everyone can express their opinion, no problem. But I find it difficult if you knock something out in general.”
After a corner, Mohamed Simakan rose to a header, Hertha keeper Oliver Christensen also went for the ball, but lost out against the Leipzig defender, Amadou Haidara poked the ball over the line in the turmoil (39′). After a long review by the VAR, the goal was awarded.
It was checked for foul, handball and offside, explained Aytekin, “at the end of the day it was a correct goal”: Marco Rose saw it that way too. “It wasn’t a foul for me,” said the RB coach.
With a 2-0 cup win over Borussia Dortmund, Leipzig struggled to get back on track in the Bundesliga and regained a place in the Champions League. RB had recently suffered two league bankruptcies, but on Wednesday they made it into the semi-finals of the DFB Cup with a dominant performance against BVB.
VAR checks RB Leipzig’s goal for minutes
While Leipzig has their sights set on qualifying for the premier class again, Hertha still has to worry about staying up in the relegation zone with 22 points and could even slip to the bottom of the table on Sunday.
In front of 50,679 spectators in the Olympic Stadium, Schwarz sent his team onto the pitch unchanged compared to the 1-1 draw at SC Freiburg. At Leipzig, Dani Olmo and Konrad Laimer initially took a seat on the bench, with Emil Forsberg and Kevin Kampl starting instead.
After a few minutes, the guests took control of the game in the Olympic Stadium, but the first attempts by Timo Werner (4th) and Forsberg (5th) were too harmless. RB pushed the Berliners deep into their half, but kept getting stuck in the ranks of the hosts. Initially, there was little offensive from Hertha, and the capital club could not use the standards either.
But Leipzig couldn’t get through against the compact defending Berliners either, and there were hardly any chances to score. Then things got hectic in the Hertha penalty area: after a corner, Mohamed Simakan jumped up to head the ball, Hertha keeper Oliver Christensen also went for the ball, but lost out against the RB defender, Haidara poked the ball over the line in the turmoil. After a minute-long review by the VAR, the goal was awarded.
Hertha tried to equalize after the break, but found hardly any solutions. But the people of Leipzig also lacked penetrating power. An attempt by Benjamin Henrichs (61st) went over the goal, after a shot by Kevin-Prince Boateng had been blocked on the other side. Substitute Suat Serdar also failed because of RB keeper Janis Blaswich (82nd).