3:2 in Paderborn – Hertha BSC with three points from nowhere
Imago/Ulrich Hufnagel
Audio: rbb24 Inforadio | April 5, 2024 | Christian Schulze | Image: Imago/Ulrich Hufnagel
After a largely disappointing performance, Hertha BSC managed to win at SC Paderborn. Blatant defensive errors were countered by enormous effectiveness. And strong substitutes.
- Hertha is now only five points behind third place
- Paderborn hit the crossbar twice and were the better team for a long time
- Hertha’s substitutes liven up the Berlin game
- 1.17 to 0.62 in expected goals in favor of Paderborn
- In the tenth duel against Paderborn, the seventh victory for the Berliners
At the start of the 28th matchday in the Second Bundesliga Hertha BSC saved the chance to intervene in the promotion race again. The Berliners won 3:2 (1:1) at SC Paderborn. The goals were scored by Raphael Obermair (16th minute) and Visar Musliu (59th) for Paderborn and Aymen Barkok (17th), Bilal Hussein (86th) and Haris Tabakovic (90th) for Hertha. The victory temporarily moves the team to sixth place, now only five points behind relegation place third.
Hertha fouls with consequences
Paderborn got off to a lively start, with winger Sirlord Conteh’s pace in particular repeatedly causing problems for Hertha. It was his cross after the counterattack that Berlin right-back Jonjoe Kenny directed into his own net to make it 1-0 (6th minute). However, the goal rightly did not count because of an offside position.
Afterwards, Hertha often only knew how to help themselves by playing fouls. Not without consequences. Calvin Brackelmann first hit the crossbar with a free kick from around 20 meters. And with so much taste that nearby seismographers may have been surprised, at least briefly (11.).
Five minutes later it was another free kick that gave Paderborn the lead. Both the Berlin Wall (and that’s saying something, historically speaking) and goalkeeper Marius Gersbeck had no chance against Raphael Obermair’s free kick, which flew perfectly into the corner of the goal.
Paderborn with a gift
It was all the more astonishing that the guests, who hadn’t made a notable appearance until then, equalized directly just a minute later. However, only with the acceptance of a generous gift from Paderborn’s Kai Klefisch, who, under minimal opposition pressure, could not decide whether he wanted to receive the ball or pass it, which is why he brought it directly into Berlin’s legs in a way that was difficult to repeat. As a result, Palko Dardai and Aymen Barkok ran towards the Paderborn goal in pairs and with no opponents in sight. After Dardai’s cross pass, Barkok finally had no trouble pushing in from a few meters to make it 1-1.
But then the game returned to its seemingly natural form. Hertha offered Paderborn space and opportunities. But another goal didn’t want to come, despite good opportunities (Conteh, 30th and 44th, tenth, 41st) and another hit on the crossbar. After a corner, Paderborn’s defender Visar Musliu, who was defending extremely airily at that moment, skillfully headed against his own path, but not precisely enough (36th).
Hertha turns the game out of nowhere
The second half also started unchanged. After a cross from the right side, it was Sebastian Klaas who poked the ball past Hertha goalkeeper Marius Gersbeck after a commotion in the penalty area, but not past Kenny’s rescue tackle (48th). In the 60th minute, Musliu, who was once again absurdly unmarked, finally achieved what he had been training for for an hour – a header goal after a corner.
Hertha seemed beaten, but still managed to equalize. Because Paderborn didn’t invest enough after taking the lead and Hertha equalized out of nowhere through substitute Bilal Hussein (86th), when he brought a low cross from Kenny over the line from a few meters. Only to be able to celebrate Haris Tabakovic’s winning goal in the 90th minute after a counterattack and a fantastic individual performance from Ibrahim Maza, who was also substitute. After Maza’s cross pass from two meters, the Swiss only had to hold out his foot. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Hertha was lucky again when Paderborn’s Klaas couldn’t properly control the ball from three meters and brought it over the goal.
Reactions to the game
Pal Dardai (Hertha BSC): “We were a bit lucky at the end, but we worked a lot for this luck. The first half wasn’t good and the opponent was significantly better. […] We sorted things out at half-time and showed new momentum and a new style of play with the substitutions. Then you felt: something could happen.”
Raphael Obermair (SC Paderborn): “There were a few things you could do. We were always dangerous in front of the goal. We might have to do one or two more things and then things might go differently. Very bitter today.”
Fabian Reese (Hertha BSC): “We came back twice – last week too. We turned the whole game around. I don’t think we had many games over the course of the season that we won badly. Today we finally did Game that we won badly. In the end it all comes down to the three points. That makes us happy. Even if everything wasn’t perfect today.”
The voices in the audio
The game in the live ticker
Broadcast: rbb24, April 5, 2024, 10 p.m