After the final whistle, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Willi Orban attacked each other and fought a battle of words. Even during the Bundesliga game, Hertha BSC did not surrender to the favorite RB Leipzig, but showed a lot of resistance.
But in the end it wasn’t enough again. Leipzig celebrated their seventh win by beating Hertha 1-0 (1-0) in their seventh away game and climbed to fourth place in the table.
“That was a good performance today against Hertha BSC, who made it really difficult for us,” said RB coach Marco Rose on Sky on Saturday evening. He often lacked the “last consequence”, but in view of the difficult cup game against Borussia Dortmund (2-0) three days earlier, Rose allowed himself to be lenient: “Maybe we were a bit tired.”
The Berliners, threatened with relegation, wanted to take advantage of this, but they lacked the clout. “We were good, but we should have been a bit braver with the ball,” said Hertha’s leading player Boateng, who didn’t want to overplay his arguments after the final whistle: “I often shout around. It’s caresses, you see, who is stronger. That’s long forgotten.”
Leipzig present from the start
The guests used the playful elements from the start and tightened Hertha in their own half. The biggest chance, however, was favored by an uncertainty from Hertha goalkeeper Oliver Christensen, who was able to deflect the ball to a corner. The Berliners were lucky that referee Deniz Aytekin did not point to the penalty spot in a duel between Marc Oliver Kempf and Benjamin Henrichs (26th).
Video assistant Harm Osmers played the central role in the goal in the 39th minute. Mohamed Simakan had tackled Christensen in the six-yard box but was on the ball in front of the goalkeeper. A few minutes were then checked to see whether there had been a foul or handball and whether Haidara, who poked the ball over the line after Simakan’s header, was offside . Coach Schwarz therefore also sought to talk to the referee when going into half-time. “At the end of the day it was a correct goal, so I can’t understand Sandro Schwarz’s anger,” said Aytekin.
Hertha comes close, but misses the equalizer
Leipzig played the well-deserved lead into their hands. The guests slowed down after the change of sides, so that Hertha gained a little more play and came close to the guest goal more often. Schwarz wanted to give the team a boost with the substitutions of Jessic Ngankam, Suat Serdar and Richter in the 62nd minute.
On the Leipzig side, Dani Olmo and André Silva came onto the pitch without changing the game significantly: Leipzig controlled the match, Hertha mostly ran behind. Leipzig goalkeeper Janis Blaswich prevented Serdar from equalizing nine minutes before the end of regulation time. On the other side, Szoboszlai and Silva missed the final decision (86′).
