Late Schade goal denies Hertha of first home win
While Freiburg took an early lead through the in-form Kyereh, a Lukebakio penalty and Serdar strike gave Sandrow Schwarz's side the lead. Kevin Schade was on hand to rescue a point for the visitors, as Hertha's wait for a first home win goes on.
| Suat Serdar. | Photo: Hertha BSC |
It was a frantic start to the game as both sides had their attacks, Lukebakio with the pick of the bunch dragging his effort right of the post. Christensen had a somewhat wobbly few moments in goal to start but the young Dane settled and restored calm amongst the BSC backline. Having just made a fine save on Kyereh a minute earlier, Christensen was soon picking the ball out of his own net on 23 minutes as Freiburg hit the front. Ritsu Dōan controlled the ball perfectly to square for the former St.Pauli midfielder to tap home from six yards out.
Hertha was given a lifeline in 32 minutes when referee Robert Schröder awarded them a penalty. Freiburg captain Christian Günter was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box. Lukebakio stepped up to the mark and delivered, bagging his fourth of the season and sending Flekken the wrong way. BSC weren’t backing down after drawing level as confidence grew. A BSC lead was almost established before the interval when Sunjić rose magnificently to head narrowly over the bar, but it was to remain 1-1.
The match was considerably scrappy and bereft of scoring chances after the break. Other than the half glimpses of Dōan’s ability, and Ejuke making way for Richter, there was surprisingly little on show. Until Hertha turned the game on its head on 61 minutes when Serdar gave ‘Die Alte Dame’ a 2-1 advantage. Despite the best efforts of Mattias Ginter, the dynamic midfielder broke free to drill past Flekken into the bottom left corner.
Gregoritsch and Grifo, who had been shackled well all evening, were replaced by Petersen and Schade. It wasn’t long before Keitel and Jeong were called on too, while Selke came in for the home side. Even in Streich’s covid stricken absence, it was the substitutes who clawed the Breisgau side level. Christensen judged the flight of a free kick terribly, fumbling the ball to Keitel who teed up Kevin Schade. The German winger fired through a forest of legs to the despair of Hertha fans and players alike as the ball hit the net. While the Hertha faithful created a magical atmosphere for their side in the closing stages, it was a draw in the end and probably the fairest result between two evenly matched teams.