54
21:44
After Tousart lost the ball, Jatta can get a changeover situation rolling. The ball ends up at Kittel via Vušković, but he can’t get past Pekarík. The game of the very concentrated defensive lines remains.
51
21:41
Now the Hertha team are also attacking more ambitiously. After Jovetić was unable to hold the ball, Belfodil then slammed the ball over the crossbar from twelve meters lying on his back. Kick off HSV.
50
21:40
Mario Vušković finds the ball from 19 meters on the left, but only shoots the direct free-kick into the wall.
49
21:39
Yellow card for Dedryck Boyata (Hertha BSC)
Boyata clears Muheim two meters before his own sixteen. That earns him a yellow card.
48
21:38
A Muheim cross is deflected by Boyata to the corner. Reis executes briefly and gets the ball back on the sixteen. His subsequent conclusion comes too high and centrally on goal, where Christensen grabs and holds the ball.
46
21:36
The teams are back on the pitch. Wollschläger remains in the dressing room for the home side, for whom Jovetić takes over. The Hanseatic League initially continue unchanged. The ball rolls again.
46
21:35
Substitution at Hertha BSC: Stevan Jovetić
46
21:35
Substitution at Hertha BSC: Luca Wollschläger
46
21:35
Kick-off 2nd half
45
21:19
Mid-term conclusion:
Hertha BSC and Hamburg are still 0-0 at the break in the first leg of the relegation. The beginning, which also benefited from the outstanding atmosphere in the stands, was initially quite lively, although neither team took too many risks. Because the defensive lines were all the more concentrated, almost nothing burned for more than half an hour before Hertha keeper Christensen had to distinguish himself from a deflected Glatzel shot for the first time (32nd). HSV increasingly determined what was happening before the old lady finally woke up in the last few minutes before the break and played more courageously up front. Belfodil was then even able to score the first goal, which did not count because of an extremely close but correct offside position. So everything is still open.
45
21:18
Lucas Tousart dribbles forward and just pulls from the second row. The tight right-footed shot, however, is a found face for Daniel Heuer Fernandes, who buries the ball safely under himself.
45
21:16
Of course, the VAR also looks at this scene again because it was really extremely tight. But the decision remains: Belfodil was just offside.
45
21:16
Official injury time (minutes): 3
45
21:15
Now the ball is in the net for the first time in this game, but the flag immediately goes up on the sidelines. Belfodil, who heads the pass from the left half-field from eight yards into the bottom right, is razor-thin offside. Big fool for HSV.
43
21:14
Out of nowhere, the Berliners now have a really good chance. After a cross from the right hemisphere, Stark puts the ball in the path of his teammates from the penalty spot, but they don’t run through. With a brief disorder in the defense of the red pants, there was a lot more possible here.
42
21:12
Plattenhardt brings a corner from the left up into the center, where the HSV defense can clarify. There is almost nothing to see from Hertha offensively.
40
21:10
Again Jatta is through on the right and again his cross is too imprecise, which Boyata jitterily clears into Rohr’s feet. He has the eye for Glatzel on the second post and chips the ball up into the box. This ball isn’t perfect either, but it works. From an acute angle, however, Glatzel only heads to the side netting.
37
21:07
Luca Wollschläger claims the ball and sends Ishak Belfodil down the right. He sees Suat Serdar starting and serves his teammate flat on the first post. Instead of locking up, Suat Serdar tries a back-heel trick in which the leather bounces clumsily from the supporting leg into the goal. Kick off Hamburg.
35
21:05
Harm Osmers watches the scene several times. Then, to the delight of Hertha, he makes the decision: No penalty! Take a deep breath for Peter Pekarík.
34
21:04
The VAR takes another look at the situation. Did Pekarík touch the ball with his forearm and not his upper arm? Harm Osmers is summoned to the sidelines to re-watch the very tricky scene for himself.
32
21:02
Big chance Hamburg! Now the game finally has its first big chance! Glatzel cannot be separated from the ball in the opponent’s penalty area and is finally able to pull away from 13 meters. The shot is deflected by Pekarík with his upper arm and comes extremely sharply to the centre, where Christensen can clear with a strong reflex foot defense despite the ball’s change of direction. Strong from the keeper!
31
21:01
Jatta has to be treated briefly on the field after this hard entry, but can continue.
30
21:00
Yellow card for Lucas Tousart (Hertha BSC)
Tousart follows in the center and senst with his straddle Jatta from behind with a lot of running. This is a card from the dark yellow category.
29
20:58
Yellow card for Niklas Stark (Hertha BSC)
Stark is a step too late in the center against Meffert and steps on his opponent’s foot. That earned him the first yellow card of the game.
28
20:58
Hamburg countered and Jatta could get through for the starting Glatzel. Instead, he unnecessarily plays a bad pass behind his teammate, so that the ball lands back on the Hertha defense that has moved up.
26
20:57
Almost everything at HSV now runs through Jatta, who again has space and time on the right wing. Again, the 23-year-old cannot use this to his advantage. The flank is far too far and unplaced and rushes past all teammates into the goal. Kick off Hertha.
24
20:54
Jatta conquered the leather on the right wing, refueled forward and crossed very sharply into the Berlin penalty area, where, however, first Glatzel and then Reis missed. However, the opportunity still runs. Again the ball lands on Jatta, who has a lot of space on the right, but then tries it himself. With a right-footed shot, however, the ball slips over his instep and lands in the goal. The beginnings are there, but that’s just not compelling enough.
22
20:52
After a Muheim cross, Plattenhardt clears the corner. Reis takes a short lead and in the end it’s Muheim who hits it from the second row. The first end of the game is not really dangerous, sailing a good three meters past the old lady’s box to the right. Kick off Hertha.
20
20:50
After a promising start, the game has flattened out quite a bit, which is primarily due to two very concentrated defensive lines that have not allowed anything so far. Both teams play for maximum safety and shy away from risk.
17
20:47
Hertha gets a promising free kick in the left half after a foul on Tousart. However, the sharp cross from Plattenhardt does not find a buyer. Still no shot on goal in this relegation game.
16
20:46
Ishak Belfodil wants to do it himself in the opponent’s sixteen, coming to the left of the baseline, but gets stuck on Sebastian Schonlau when dribbling.
14
20:44
The will is there, but the nervousness is covering a lot at the moment. Both teams act from a safe defensive and have not risked anything in the game up front. This means that there are no outnumbered situations, which makes it relatively easy for the defensive lines to prevent enemy advances.
11
20:40
After a long Pekarík throw-in, Belfodil can initially fix the ball in the Hamburg penalty area. But then Meffert is there and can rectify the situation with strong positional play.
9
20:39
With an opening pass, Jatta should be sent over the right again, but the pass is too long and ends up in goal. The well-known relegation game still owes us the first degree.
6
20:36
All in all, it’s a lively start in Berlin. The outstanding atmosphere in the packed grandstands contributes significantly to this. Both teams are looking for the direct route to the opposing penalty area and don’t stay in midfield for too long. Because the ball is pressed very aggressively on both sides, possession has changed frequently so far.
3
20:33
Jatta gets through Glatzel’s run, but Boyata cleverly puts his body in and can decisively push off his opponent, so that debutant Christensen can safely pick up the ball in the Hertha goal.
1
20:30
Kick-off at the Olympic Stadium. The hosts play in their blue and white shirts over blue shorts. The guests from Hamburg are dressed all in red. Here we go.
20:01
Both teams have faced each other 79 times in a competitive game and Hertha leads the direct comparison with 35 wins (13 draws, 31 defeats). The two teams last met in the 2017/18 Bundesliga season, when the Old Lady won both the first and second leg 2-1. The last HSV away win at the Berlin Olympic Stadium was more than ten years ago (2-1 in January 2012).
19:56
On Sunday, HSV was 1-0 down in Rostock at the break, but then turned the game around and secured the relegation place with a 3-2 away win. Coach Tim Walter sees little need for changes, but comes up with a surprising change: Maximilian Rohr replaces Josha Vagnoman (bench) in the starting lineup.
19:51
Hamburger SV scored only five out of a possible 21 points between mid-February and mid-April and after the 29th matchday was actually in third place with seven points. But then the North Germans flipped the switch again, won five league games in a row in the final sprint and actually moved up to third place in the end because of the better goal difference. For the first time since the introduction of the three-point rule, a team fighting for promotion was able to make up such a deficit within the final five matchdays.
19:45
On the 34th match day things looked pretty good for the Berliners after a 1-0 lead in Dortmund, but in the end they had to accept a late 1-2 defeat. Felix Magath has made three changes to his starting eleven compared to this game: Oliver Christensen replaces the injured Marcel Lotka (broken nose) in goal. In addition, Niklas Stark and Luca Wollschläger will start for Santiago Ascacíbar (suspended) and Jurgen Ekkelenkamp (not in the squad).
19:41
Hertha BSC only slipped down to 16th place on the 34th matchday. The capitals had three match balls to avoid this fall. From the last three league games against Bielefeld (1: 1), Mainz (1: 2) and Dortmund (1: 2), the Magath-Elf took only one of nine possible points, which means that the old lady is now in the league for the first time in ten years relegation must. The followers don’t have good memories of it. Against Dusseldorf (3: 4 after the first and second leg) it went one floor down.
19:36
The duel between the 16th in the Bundesliga and the third in the 2nd Bundesliga was recently a very one-sided affair. In the last 19 relegation games, the second division team has only won once (nine draws, nine wins by the Bundesliga team). Holstein Kiel’s 1-0 win in Cologne a year ago also had no consequences, as the billy goats won the second leg at the Förde 5-1 and thus remained in the top tier of German football despite the first-leg defeat.
19:30
Good evening and welcome from the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Here Hertha BSC receives Hamburger SV at 8:30 p.m. today as part of the Bundesliga relegation for the first leg.