5/6/2006
hsv.de

A huge capacity crowd of 74,218 in the Olympic stadium in Berlin on Saturday afternoon (06.05.06) saw HSV take the lead twice but still lose 2-4 as the home side Hertha battled back despite being down to ten men, after Zecke Neuendorf was sent off after 59 minutes. The victory ended HSV’s superb unbeaten away run, Now they have to take a point off local rivals Werder Bremen (who beat Cologne 6-0) at home next week in order to automatically qualify for the Champions League.

HSV coach Thomas Doll was once again without several key players as his side visited the Olympic stadium: Rafael van der Vaart, Nigel de Jong, Raphael Wicky and Stefan Beinlich were all sidelined through injury. Skipper Daniel van Buyten was in the squad but only on the bench after taking a knock to his foot in the pre-match training session. Hertha coach Falko Götz was without his influential Turkish international midfield general Yildiray Bastürk, who is still struggling with a hardened thigh muscle. Defender Joe Simunic returned to the Hertha team to face his former club.

Early HSV breakthrough
HSV got a grip on the game from the off, playing attractive passing football. The visitors took the lead on 10 minutes as Piotr Trochowski let fly from 28 metres out. The 15,000 travelling HSV fans didn’t have much time to celebrate though, because only 3 minutes later Hertha drew level as Zecke Neuendorf blasted hom after HSV had cleared their lines. The huge crowd had hardly caught their breath as HSV went ahead again, as Benny Lauth latched onto an awful headed clearance by Hertha’s defensive midfielder Gilberto.

Missed chances
HSV should have gone further ahead on 28 minutes, as Barbarez curled in a superb shot which hit the bar and fell at the feet of Ailton only to see hios shot superbly saved by the Hertha keeper Fiedler. Marcelinho went close with a shot on 36 minutes, as his shot shaved the crossbar. Just before halftime HSV was forced to make a change as Khalid Boulahrouz went off with a stomach problem, to be replaced by skipper van Buyten, who had enough to do after coming on: Marcelinho was denied by a fine save by Kirschstein on 40 minutes. Seconds later, Marko Pantelic headed against an upright. The last chance of the first half fell to Mahdavikia on the stroke of half time. The little Iranian fired a shot over Fiedler’s crossbar. HSV went into the break leading 2-1.

10-man Hertha win the day
Both sides emerged unchanged from the changing rooms for the second half, and once again HSV got the better start. Barbarez reacted quickest following a corner, but the Bosnian could only hit a post with his header on 48 minutes. Moments later Marcelinho tried his luck from distance with a shot which only narrowly missed the target. On 55 minutes the HSV defence had a collective snooze as no-one felt responsible for Hertha’s strongest player in the air Alex Madlung as a Marcelinho free kick was put onto his head. Madlung easily headed home unchallenged to equalise for Hertha.

Crazy game
After that, things went a little crazy: Benny Lauth missed a gilt edged opportunity on 57 minutes. After 60 minutes, the home side was down to ten men as Zecke Neuendorf was sent off for a second yellow card offence. After being booked during the first half, the midfielder dived in the HSV area and was rightly sent off.

Game over for HSV
To their credit, Hertha was not unduly worried by the new situation. On the contrary, Pantelic (62.) and Gilberto (66.) both missed good chances. What happened next had the capacity crowd rubbing their eyes in disbelief. Hertha dominated the game despite being a man down, and Niko Kovac stole in on the blind side of Atouba to head home against his former club at the far post in his final game for Hertha on 69 minutes. Two minutes later, it was game over for HSV as Pantelic took advantage of a defensive mix-up to make it 4-2 to Hertha. HSV continued to hit Hertha on the counter attack but there were no further goals.

Match details:

Hertha: Fiedler РFriedrich, Madlung, Simunic, Gilberto РKovac РCairo (63. Chahed), Boateng (86. Schr̦der), Zecke РPantelic, Marcelinho (78. Dardai)

HSV: Kirschstein – Mahdavikia, Boulahrouz (39. van Buyten), Reinhardt, Atouba (71. Kucukovic) – Demel – Jarolim, Trochowski – Barbarez – Ailton, Lauth

Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Ergolding)

Attendance: 74,218 (Sold out)

Tore: 0-1 Trochowski (10.), 1-1 Zecke (13.), 1-2 Lauth (18.), 2-2 Madlung (55.), 3-2 Kovac (69.), 4-2 Pantelic (72.)

Yellow cards: Barbarez Demel Marcelinho Madlung Zecke

Yellow/red card: Zecke