With the 1-0 (0-0) on Friday evening at the start of the 12th matchday of the Bundesliga, it looked like a fair division of points before the top scorer struck.
“This is special”
“It’s the best feeling to get such a late win at home. It’s special. It’s nice that I was able to help too.”said Füllkrug at DAZN: “We could have scored a goal in the first half, but we scored in the end.”
For Hertha’s Marco Richter it was a “classic 0:0 game”. But the striker also admitted: “It’s just easy with the filling jug that the ball then falls in.”
No long start-up phase
It didn’t take long for the game to really pick up speed. Hertha opened up the first top chance in the second minute, but after a somewhat unsuccessful defense by Werder keeper Jiří Pavlenka, Marco Richter narrowly missed the left corner.
Bremen responded quickly and had the lead three minutes later. But when Niclas Füllkrug was just about to nod off the well-timed cross from Marvin Ducksch, Agustin Rogel just got in the way.
Ducksch overlooks a filling jug
After that it went back and forth, both teams wasted little time in midfield, and again and again the direct route to the opposing goal was quickly sought after winning the ball. But not found: Ducksch failed in the 26th minute after Berlin’s Suat Serdar lost the ball with a shot over the crossbar, and in the center Füllkrug had also waited in vain for the pass.
Despite all their efforts, Hertha could hardly pose a serious threat either, so the substitution of Jean-Paul Boëtius, who had recovered from testicular cancer after just four and a half weeks, was the only really good news: Boëtius replaced Stevan Jovetic, who had injured his hip, after a good half hour .
Total flattening
The intensity of the game continued in the second round, but initially it only affected the duels and the back and forth between the two penalty areas. In front of the gates, on the other hand, practically nothing happened anymore, and the total flattening also returned in a playful way.
It only became dangerous again eight minutes before the end, but this shot by Mitchell Weiser was also significant: More or less by chance he got the ball in the six-yard box, but shot his left shin with his right hand, so that the big chance silted up.
Brilliant header to win
When everything really pointed to a zero zero, Bremen had a real exclamation point up their sleeve. In the 95th minute, a free kick flew into the Berlin penalty area and World Cup candidate Füllkrug proved that Hansi Flick should really think seriously about his appointment: he rose from 13 meters and put a brilliant header into the left corner . Berlin’s keeper Oliver Christensen stretched in vain, he could no longer prevent the impact to the 1-0 winning goal.
Hertha welcomes the record champions
On the 13th matchday of the Bundesliga, Hertha welcomes FC Bayern Munich (Saturday, November 5th, 2022 at 3:30 p.m.). Three hours later, Bremen plays at home against FC Schalke 04 in a promoted duel.