From BZ/dpa
Thanks to Florian Niederlechner’s debut goal, Hertha BSC has fulfilled the first part of coach Pal Dardai’s courageous four-win plan and is drawing new hope in the relegation battle. After the last eight games without a win in the Bundesliga, the Berliners prevailed 2-1 (2-1) against their fellow competitor VfB Stuttgart.
Niederlechner (45+2 minutes) made the decision with his first Hertha goal on Saturday in front of 63,443 spectators in the Olympic Stadium. Marc Oliver Kempf (29th) initially gave the Berlin team the lead, Serhou Guirassy (38th) scored the Stuttgart equaliser.
“Four games, four wins”: Dardai sent his team into the final spurt of the season with this clear objective. Now the Hertha team have to up their game against 1. FC Köln and then against VfL Bochum and VfL Wolfsburg on Friday. Because Hertha is still in last place in the table. After all, Stuttgart remains within reach with a lead of just three points.
VfB unfortunately missed the DFB Cup final with a 2:3 loss against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday. And yet the Swabians found themselves in the capital for a completely different final – at least that was the general mood in Berlin. Of course, Dardai had fueled this with his bold victory announcement. Every slip practically means the knockout They know that at Hertha.
Florian Niederlechner scores for Hertha to make it 2-1 against Stuttgart Photo: Florian Niederlechner
Did the Dardais paralyze players or unleash the powers they craved? A lot of things initially looked like classic Dardai football, which puts control over risk. The offensive actions were dosed. Lucas Tousart (12th) just missed a direct acceptance. When the Frenchman shot freely in the penalty area and missed the ball, almost half an hour had passed.
Then ex-Stuttgarter Kempf headed a cross from Marco Richter into the goal. For the first time since mid-March against Mainz, Hertha was back in the lead. The fact that this lasted more than two minutes was due to VfB midfielder Enzo Millot, who moved freely from the edge of the penalty area.
The Stuttgarters, who also didn’t proliferate with attacking accents, could rely on classic Berlin shortcomings. Richter, Marvin Plattenhardt and Kempf were undecided on a VfB cross. Guirassy thanked me.
The fact that Dardai’s wife Monika was still able to clap happily on stage at halftime was due to a premiere. In added time, Niederlechner tipped a free-kick cross through the legs of VfB goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow to give Berlin the lead over the line again. It was the attacker’s first Hertha goal since moving from Augsburg at the beginning of the year.
Control was also the Hertha motto in the second half. An early counterattack by Dodi Lukebakio (51st) could have calmed things down. After that, it was primarily about keeping the Swabians away from their own goal. That succeeded, especially since VfB was far too harmless to take a big step towards staying in the league. Josha Vagnoman (82nd) failed with the best chance of equalizing to Hertha goalkeeper Oliver Christensen.