Hertha Berlin 4-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Goals: 0-1 Elvedi 17’ (assist: Netz), 1-1 Ngankam 30’ (assist: Richter), 2-1 Dardai 52‘ (assist: Cigerci), 3-1 Scherhant 90'+1 (assist: Tousart), 4-1 Lukebakio (pen. 90'+7)

Having watched the four teams immediately above them in the table lose on Saturday, and Schalke below them only draw on Friday, Hertha had a great chance to make up ground in the relegation race from their starting position of 17th. The Old Lady started brightly as they hurried and harried the Foals, but it was Gladbach who struck first when Nico Elvedi headed in former Hertha man Luca Netz’s corner. Borussia really should’ve been two up almost immediately after as Jonas Hofmann beat Oliver Christensen to a long ball up the right and rounded the keeper. He continued to dribble and looked to slot into the empty net, only for Filip Uremovic to slide across and block – a move celebrated just as loudly as a goal and was the visitors’ last effort of the half. The Berliners turned up the pressure and the home faithful did then have a goal to cheer on the half hour when Jessic Ngankam tucked away Marco Richter’s square ball across the face of goal to take Hertha up the Olympiastadion escalator level at the break.

It didn’t stay at 1-1 for long after the restart as Dardai smashed a rocket from some 25 yards in off the underside of the crossbar to mark his 21st birthday with his father Pal – himself a former Hertha coach and the club’s record appearance maker in the Bundesliga – watching on in delight from the stands. Gladbach had only won once on the road all season, so Daniel Farke sent on reinforcements in Florian Neuhaus and Alassane Plea to try and repeat the feat of a fortnight ago. However, the Foals struggled to find their stride. Despite seeing more of the ball, they only mustered seven attempts on goal to the hosts’ 17 and never really threatened an equaliser. Hertha then made sure of their first points of 2023 with substitute Derry Scherhant's finish in stoppage time before Dodi Lukebakio added further gloss with a penalty in the 97th minute. It sees them climb out of the bottom two at the expense of VfB Stuttgart, but they remain two points adrift of Bochum and outright safety with 20 games gone. Meanwhile, Gladbach slipped into the bottom half of the table.

Highlights

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