Referee Sven Jablonski (r) shows Herthas Suat Serdar the yellow card. © Federico Gambarini/dpa
They are quickly behind, suddenly lead and in the end are lucky not to get under the wheels. After the defeat in Cologne, relegation is getting dangerously close for Hertha BSC.
Cologne - After a wild hunt for goals and despite the interim lead in Cologne, the seventh Bundesliga relegation for Hertha BSC is approaching threateningly. The defensively overwhelmed Berliners lost 2:5 (2:3) at 1. FC Köln at the start of the third-to-last matchday and have to hope for defeats of almost all competitors at the weekend as the bottom of the table in order to have a realistic chance of remaining in the Bundesliga. Coach Pal Dardai's ambitious goal of winning all of the last four games was thwarted in the second game.
Davie Selke, of all people, who has been a Hertha player since 2017 with a one-year break and only moved to Cologne in the winter, initiated Hertha's 19th defeat of the season. The Berliners turned the game around through Lucas Tousart (18') and Stevan Jovetic (33'), but were already behind at the break after goals from Timo Hübers (39') and Ellyes Skhiri (43'). Hübers (69') with his second goal and Denis Huseinbasic (81') finally defeated the defeat in the second half. Two hits on the post and the strong goalkeeper Oliver Christensen prevented an even worse debacle in the end.
The Cologne-based team had already secured their place in the league since the previous week. For the first time since the first relegation in 1998, they are going into a fifth year in a row in the first division. The FC fans sneered in the direction of the Berliners: "Hey, what's going on, Hertha is finally relegated."
Hertha, who started with the same eleven as in the 2-1 win against VfB Stuttgart, started quite bravely. And was caught cold by Selke, of all people. Eric Martel, back after suspension, was allowed to cross unhindered, Selke prevailed in the air against Filip Uremovic and Marc Oliver Kempf and gave Christensen no chance to defend. The question of whether he would celebrate against his former club was superfluous, as Selke, like Uremovic, was injured in an aerial duel. While the Cologne striker held out for almost 20 minutes and was then substituted, the Croatian Hertha defender had to leave the field immediately and was replaced by Agustin Rogel.
The goal briefly had an effect on the guests, who then recovered and promptly struck back. After a pass from Marco Richter, the ball came over the calf of Kingsley Schindler to Tousart, who scored from ten yards, after a defensive action by Jeff Chabot.
And after Christensen had saved a header from Schindler (25th), the bottom of the table even added to it: After a long ball from Dardai, Jonas Hector misjudged, Dodi Lukebakio laid off for Jovetic and he scored into the other corner from a similar position to Tousart. But it didn't stop there. With a simple set-piece, the Berliners let themselves be fooled when Hübers headed in a free kick from Florian Kainz. And shortly afterwards, Hertha ran into a counterattack with Skhiri's goal at 2-2 in the opponent's stadium. Coach Dardai watched the neck blow in consternation with folded arms.
After the change, things continued wildly. Cologne still had the chances, but Christensen became more and more the best Berliner and single-handedly prevented a hopeless deficit. A header from Hübers was saved by the post (59') before Hübers and Huseinbasic scored. Dpa
