23.01.2010

Scoreless in Berlin

Borussia played out a goalless draw away to Hertha BSC Berlin after Juan Arango missed an opportunity to claim all three points from the penalty spot just before the interval.

With the temperature at the Olympic Stadium as low as minus ten, Borussia coach Michael Frontzeck opted to make just one change to the side that started against Bochum last week, Roberto Colautti returning from injury in preference to Moses Lamidi in attack. Hertha again fielded all three of their new signings, Kobiashvili, Ramos and Gekas.

In the opening stages both sides concentrated on keeping things tight in midfield. A series of long upfield balls failed to find their target, resulting in no chances for either team. And so the fans had to wait until the 12th minute for the first shot on goal. Adrian Ramos unleashed a shot from 20 metres that Logan Bailly did well to parry, but Theofanis Gekas was unable to capitalise from close range on the rebound. Sixty seconds later Raul Bobadilla tried his luck at the other end from the same distance, and Jaroslav Drobny pulled off a save to match the one of his Borussia counterpart.

Arango misses from the spot

On a slightly frozen pitch the game picked up momentum after these initial chances. In the 21st minute Marco Reus burst forward, only to be hampered a little by team-mate Roberto Colautti. At the other end the home side went closer when a Gekas shot fizzed just past the right-hand upright.

As Hertha stepped up their attacking efforts the space began to open up for Borussia in midfield. But with Michael Frontzeck's men preferring to build up slowly from their own half, Bobadilla was often the only out-ball up front. Whenever Borussia did push forward, however, they posed a major threat. And Drobny had to pull off another fine save to prevent "goal machine" Roel Brouwers notching his sixth goal of the season with a 32nd minute header. The Dutchman was then involved in a clash of heads with Colautti from the resulting corner, but both were eventually able to continue.

After a brief lull in the action former Hertha man Thorben Marx played a peach of a pass to Marco Reus in the penalty area, but he was unable to bring the ball under control. On 42, however, Borussia were presented with a golden opportunity to take the lead when Arne Friedrich brought down Colautti in the box. Arango stepped to take the spot kick, but he too was to be denied by Drobny, who kept out not just the penalty but also the Venezuelan's rebound effort. That was to mark the end of the action and the two sides went in goalless at half-time.

Hertha push forward but fail to dominate

Five minutes after the restart Borussia were a little fortunate when Ramos failed to exploit a gap in their defence. Hertha gradually began to seize the initiative and almost went ahead in the 53rd minute, but Bailly proved the equal of Cicero's free-kick. Florian Kringe also went close from the resulting corner. Borussia's Belgian keeper was called into action again on 63, dashing off his line to smother a close-range effort from Ramos.

With 65 minutes gone 18-year-old Patrick Herrmann came on for his second Bundesliga appearance in a Borussia shirt. But Hertha, adopting a strategy of taking controlled risks, continued to apply more pressure, though few clear-cut chances were forthcoming. Borussia then enjoyed a stroke of luck a quarter of an hour from the end when a long-range effort took a wicked deflection off Brouwers and flew narrowly over the crossbar. Overall, though, Borussia defended at least well enough to ensure the game ended a goalless draw.

Looking back over the 90 minutes Borussia can consider themselves fortunate to come away with a point. Nevertheless, they could have claimed all three had Arango taken his opportunity from the penalty spot just before half-time.

Berlin: Drobny – Pisczek, Friedrich, Von Bergen, Kobiashvili – Lustenberger – Kringe, Cicero – Raffael – Ramos, Gekas

Borussia: Bailly – Levels, Brouwers, Dante, Daems – Marx, Bradley – Reus, Arango (90. Arango) – Bobadilla, Colautti (65. Herrmann)

Gelbe Karte: Friedrich, Lustenberger – Colautti, Marx

Schiedsrichter: Markus Schmidt

Zuschauer: 50.000