Despite taking the lead early on through Nico Elvedi, Borussia Mönchengladbach were ultimately beaten 4-1 away at Hertha BSC on Sunday afternoon.
The Foals made a good start to their matchday 20 fixture in front of over 40,000 fans at Berlin’s Olympiastadion, and a well-placed header from Nico Elvedi on 17 minutes had them deservedly ahead. However, a Jessic Ngankam equaliser before the break and an unstoppable strike from Marton Dardai early in the second half turned the game around for the hosts. Borussia opened up late on in search of a way back, and Hertha were able to increase the scoreline in added time through Derry Scherhant and Dodi Lukebakio.
TEAM NEWS
There were two changes from the side that started last week against Schalke. With Julian Weigl suspended and Ramy Bensebaini out with illness, Hannes Wolf and Luca Netz came into the team. Jonas Omlin began in goal, Netz was joined by Nico Elvedi, Ko Itakura and Joe Scally in the back-four, Christoph Kramer dropped into holding midfield alongside Manu Koné, and Jonas Hofmann, Lars Stindl and Wolf supported lone striker Marcus Thuram.
FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
8’: A corner from Hofmann is met by Thuram, but his header just clears the crossbar.
17’: Goal for Borussia! Netz swings in a corner-kick and Elvedi is left free to head the ball into the top corner. 1-0 to Gladbach.
30’: Equaliser. Richter plays a one-two with Cigerci to get beyond the defence down the right-hand side, and his ball across the face is turned in by Ngankam. 1-1.
36’: An important block from Elvedi to deflect Ngankam’s shot behind for a corner.
44’: Itakura manages to get in the way of Tousart’s effort following a Plattenhardt delivery into the box and deny a second Hertha goal. The rebound from Uremovic is easy enough for Omlin to gather.
45+1’: A long Hertha throw-in is inadvertently flicked into a dangerous area by a stretching Kramer. Luckily, Niederlechner doesn’t quite react in time to be able to send his header from six yards on target.
SECOND-HALF HIGHLIGHTS
52’: Cigerci lays the ball off to Dardai from around 25 yards, and his first-time, left-footed shot rockets through the sea of bodies and in to the goal off the underside of the crossbar. 2-1 to Hertha.
82’: Hertha break away with substitute Lukebakio, who has options left and right. He chooses to go alone, and his shot from the edge of the box is well over.
85’: Scally lines up a strike from 20 yards and only narrowly fires it wide of the post.
87’: Koné initiates a promising Borussia attack that ends with Thuram shooting at goal from Hofmann’s square ball into the box, but Christensen reacts superbly in the Hertha goal to tip the ball over.
90+1’: Number three. Scherhant shakes off a challenge and shoots on the turn. The ball goes through the legs of Itakura and nestles in the bottom corner. 3-1 to Hertha.
90+7’: Tousart is tripped by Koné in the box and Lukebakio tucks away the resulting penalty. 4-1 to Hertha.
MATCH FACTS
Hertha BSC: Christensen - Uremovic, Kempf, M. Dardai (83’ Mittelstädt) - Richter, Tousart, Cigerci (83’ Sunjic), Serdar (64’ Boetius), Plattenhardt - Ngankam (64’ Lukebakio), Niederlechner (72’ Scherhant)
Borussia: Omlin - Scally (90+1’ Herrmann), Itakura, Friedrich, Netz (90+1’ Lainer) - Kramer (78’ Ngoumou), Koné - Hofmann, Stindl (66’ Plea), Wolf (66’ Neuhaus) - Thuram // Unused subs: Olschowsky, Friedrich, Jantschke; Fraulo
Goals: 0-1 Elvedi (17’), 1-1 Ngankam (30’), 2-1 Dardai (52’), 3-1 Scherhant (90+1’), 4-1 Lukebakio (90+7’, pen.)
Attendance: 40,973
Yellow cards: Uremovic - Koné
Referee: Christian Dingert (Gries)
