Featured Game – Schalke 1-2 Hertha Berlin

The Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen was the setting on Wednesday evening for a vital game for the visiting club from the German capital. Hertha had needed to make up for a period watching on as a Covid-19 outbreak halted their season. Therefore, this clash away to Schalke was their fourth game in just nine days, but they would have played the same number of matches as everyone else afterwards. In truth, the break in play has done little to hinder Hertha’s of staying up this season and, as other teams have faltered around them, they have taken seven points from their three games after the resumption. Here, they had the chance to improve that to ten from twelve available and with their opponents coming in the form of the league’s poorest performers Schalke, Berlin started out as big favourites.

Football is never as easy as it seems though and even Schalke possess players with real quality, perhaps the only problem has been the frequency that they have expressed it over the course of the last nine months. One of these players is without doubt Amine Harit. The Moroccan, who won a Bundesliga player of the month award in the early stages of last season, has struggled along with the remainder of his side in what has been a torrid season for Schalke. However, he did show on just six minutes in this game that maybe if he had been playing in a better performing outfit, then he may have been able to produce more. His undoubted top qualities are his nifty footwork and fast-paced dribbling ability and he utilised these attributes to jink his way past a number of opposing defenders on the edge of the penalty area to open up a shot at goal. Although he is right-footed, it was his weaker side that he used on this occasion to place the ball into the far corner of the net to hand the hosts a lead that would have had most onlookers stunned as to the fact that Schalke had gone ahead two games in a row. At the weekend against Hoffenheim, they had also managed to grab an early advantage and even been able to double this before half time. Their task this time around, however, was to try and hang on to the lead and not crumble like they had done four days prior, when a 2-0 lead became a 4-2 defeat in near to no time at all.

However, the major problem for Schalke this season has been at the back. Try as the attackers might, their task would probably seem almost impossible with the number of goals that their defence has shipped this campaign. More specifically, the area in which Schalke have been most vulnerable is when defending, or trying to defend, set-piece situations and this is where they were exploited just after the quarter hour mark. Just seeing the veteran Marvin Plattenhardt standing over a dead ball is enough to strike fear into most players though, with the full-back’s killer left peg, and he did not fail to deliver with his delivery from the free kick. A whipped cross to the far stick was just the invitation required for the big former Celtic centre-half Dedryck Boyata too rise highest and power a header home for the equalizing goal. The disappointment on home goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann’s face was clear for all to see and summed up the inevitability of the Hertha goal that seemed to be coming even without a bucket-load of chances for the away side beforehand. Schalke did survive until half time at least at 1-1, even despite the best efforts of tenacious Berlin winger Dilrosun who had four decent opportunities, but all were either put wide or blazed high over the bar.

Therefore, the issue was still to be settled in the second half and either team had a shot of taking all three points, even if the visitors looked the more likely to do so. The game progressed to the hour mark and still there was no go-ahead goal, but Berlin boss Pal Dárdai was not content with just waiting around and he took affirmative action to try and shake things up. Off came Piatek, Darida and the surprisingly included Mathew Leckie for Ngankam, Ascacibar and Lukebakio. The latter of the three was just returning from injury and just in time for Hertha, as the season nears its conclusion – the Belgian poses one of their biggest threats in front of goal and with the likes of Matheus Cunha and Jhon Cordoba still on the side lines, his return would have sparked some Hertha hope for the remainder of proceedings. However, as events would turn out, it was not Lukebakio’s introduction that would be the telling one for the away side, far from it in fact.

Fifteen minutes after the three substitutes entered the game, it was the other half of the new strike partnership Jessic Ngankam who completed the turnaround for Berlin and found the goal that turned out ultimately to be a crucial winner. The 20-year-old was born in Cameroon, but represented Germany up until under-18 level, but being a striker there are plenty of players that he would have to overtake to feature for his national side again. He may get to be involved more for his club side though in the run-in, as he dispatched a well-struck left-footed shot past Fährmann to make the score line 2-1 in Hertha’s favour and importantly for them, that is how it stayed. The good news then was three points. On the other hand, Dodi Lukebakio’s late dismissal, following two yellow cards after coming off the bench, would have put a dampener on the win. With two games to go, Hertha would have probably hoped that the forward could steer them to safety by bringing some attacking quality to the final matches, but now his impending suspension will mean that inspiration will have to come from elsewhere. Hence, Ngankam may get a game or two from the start, with Piatek and Radonjic especially having been heavily involved in the recent run of fixtures, and in need of a rest as their rather underwhelming performances in this one suggested. Hertha will certainly want to bring intensity to the weekend’s match-up as they face second bottom Köln, knowing that a win prevents them from automatic relegation and makes finishing in the play-off spot highly unlikely.

What to Look Forward to Next Matchday

Arminia Bielefeld vs. Hoffenheim

Hertha Berlin vs. Köln

Augsburg vs. Werder Bremen

Schalke vs. Eintracht Frankfurt

Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Stuttgart

Bayer Leverkusen vs. Union Berlin

Freiburg vs. Bayern München

Mainz vs. Borussia Dortmund

RB Leipzig vs. Wolfsburg

The first seven fixtures on Matchday 33 will all be played simultaneously on Saturday, with the relegation battle at the forefront of these games. Hertha face Köln in a game that could see the away side condemned to football in the second-tier next season if results do not go their way. However, with Augsburg hosting Bremen, there is a real chance for either side to pull away from danger with a victory, while the losers could drop into the play-off spot by the end of the ninety. For this to happen though, Arminia will need a result at home to Hoffenheim, but this may be slightly more straightforward as they can simply focus on an opponent with nothing to play for and hope that the others take points of each other. It’s all going on at the bottom of the table and we love it!