Hertha Berlin vs Schalke O4
Olympiastadion Berlin, Berlin
Friday, 31-01-2020 @10:30pm
Ref: Sascha Stegemann
After falling behind earlier in the game, Hertha BSC quickly consolidated, rose up to occasion and came back to extra-time win in their Bundesliga game against VfL Wolfsburg 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
It was the sixth victory of the season for the team from the capital as Jürgen Klinsmann’s men are slowly but surely successfully distancing themselves from relegation rumble, leapfrogging Koln to the 13th place on the Bundesliga table, five points off endangered Werder.
Since the beginning of October, Hertha has won just one game at Olympiastadion (three in total and a draw from nine games) though in their defense, they had a schedule from hell, title challengers, one after another has come and conquered Berlin, including high flying Hoffenheim in the rubble.
A night to forget for The Royal Blues brought a disastrous end to an unbeaten streak as Bayern Munich dominated Schalke in a one-sided, shutout victory in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
The fourth defeat of the season meant stepping down to sixth place as Leverkusen overtook The Miners, but their dreams of Champions League football are still alive and well, with Dortmund being just three points away on fourth.
In nine outings, David Wagner pupils did rather a decent job, getting fourteen points from four wins and two draws, suffering three defeats at Hoffenheim, Leverkusen, with the latest one being drubbing by the champions in Munich.
There are no long-term absentees for Berliners but there’s a couple of unknowns for incoming clash with Schalke as Karim Rekik, Vladimir Darida, Arne Maier and Thomas Kraft might or might not be fit enough to take on The Miners.
Schalke’s injury woes are seemingly coming to an end, with just three players left on rehabilitation: Benito Raman, Salif Sane and Benjamin Stambouli.
Overall Stats (70 games): Hertha BSC 24 wins, 11 draws, FC Schalke 35 wins. Hertha have 20-4-11 record at home versus The Royal Blues. Schalke easily got the better of Hertha back in Gelsenkirchen, winning 3-0. The Miners were first to score in five of last six h2h meetings v Hertha. Six of their last eight encounters ended with fewer than 2.5 goals.
The other upcoming Bundesliga fixtures
Saturday, 01-02-2020
-Dortmund vs Union Berlin @5:30pm
-Hoffenheim vs Leverkusen @5:30pm
-Dusseldorf vs Frankfurt @5:30pm
-Mainz vs Bayern @5:30pm
-Augsburg vs Bremen @5:30pm
-Leipzig vs Monchengladbach @8:30pm
Sunday, 02-02-2020
-Koln vs Freiburg @5:30pm
-Paderborn vs Wolfsburg @8pm
