Crucial home win over Augsburg!

Sandro Schwarz had put his trust in the same eleven players that had started the previous two games, however, back problems felt during the warm-up forced Márton Dárdai out at short notice. Augustín Rogel stepped in to line up alongside Filip Uremović, who was able to take up his usual position in the head coach’s 3-5-2 formation, despite not completing the full training programme this week. There was a familiar face on the visitors’ team sheet, as Arne Meier returned to the capital.

It was almost a perfect start for the home side at the Olympiastadion, with Florian Niederlechner a few feet away from opening the scoring after just three minutes against his former employers. The early chance didn’t set the pace for the remainder of the half, unfortunately, with both sides getting stuck in, but ultimately struggling to open up their opposing defence. The Berliners had more of the game, with more possession and a better challenge-success rate in the first 45, but their only other notable moment of the half came right at the end, as Jessic Ngankam fired a little too high with his snapshot volley.

Richter does it again versus FCA

Our number 24 didn’t return to the pitch after the change of ends, with Dodi Lukébakio getting his chance up front instead. As the snowfall began to pick up in Berlin, Tolga Ciğerci tried his luck from distance. Even in the conditions, Rafał Gikiewicz was more than a match for the shot (57’). A Rogel header from Marco Richter’s cross just a minute later landed on the roof of the net. Hertha were getting closer now, and the next attempt finally did break the deadlock. Richter lined up a strike from a good 25 yards, and the ball dipped low into the bottom corner and out of the FCA goalkeeper’s reach to make it 1-0 after 61 minutes. Enrico Maaßen’s side looked to respond, but Marvin Plattenhardt was able to get a decisive deflection on Mergim Berisha’s shot (66’).

Lukébakio keeps his cool

Before Augsburg could sense an equaliser getting closer, the Blue-Whites struck again to create some daylight. A free-kick pumped forward by Rogel unexpectedly bounced through to Lukébakio, who raced onto the ball and applied a clinical finish beyond Gikiewicz to make it 2-0 (70’). Schwarz brought on some fresh legs after that, with Jean-Paul Boëtius and Jonjoe Kenny replacing Suat Serdar and Richter (72’), soon followed by a return to action for Stevan Jovetić, as he took Niederlechner’s place in attack (78’). The fifth and final change was an enforced one, however, as an injured Marc Kempf had to make way for Maximilian Mittelstädt (81’). Lukébakio was proving a handful off the bench, and the Belgian almost added a third in the 83rd minute, only for his curling effort to zip wide of the far post. The three points were already secured though, as a fifth win of the season means the Berliners have now climbed out of the relegation zone with 20 points to their name!

Hertha BSC: Christensen – Uremović, Kempf (81’ Mittelstädt), Rogel – Richter (72’ Kenny), Ciğerci, Tousart, Serdar (72’ Boëtius), Plattenhardt (C) – Ngankam (46’ Lukébakio), Niederlechner (78’ Jovetić)

FC Augsburg: Gikiewicz – Iago (63’ Pedersen), Veiga, Gouweleeuw (C), Gumny (86’ Caligiuri) – Demirović, Dorsch (63’ Baumgartlinger), Engels, Maier (86’ Jensen) – Berisha, Yeboah (46’ Vargas)

Goals: 1-0 Richter (61’), 2-0 Lukébakio (70’)

Referee: Dr. Matthias Jöllenbeck

Yellow cards: Richter – Gumny, Veiga, Vargas

Attendance: 40,552