Bundesliga Relegation First Leg Berlin vs Duesseldorf

The first leg of the Bundesliga relegation match between 16th place Hertha BSC Berlin got underway today in the Olympia Stadion in Berlin in front of 70,000 fans.  Berlin was the favourite, despite the fact that they had to secure 16th place on the last matchday of the Bundesliga.  Duesseldorf had to concede direct promotion to Eintracht Frankfurt on the last matchday of the 2nd flight.

Duesseldorf started the match with a strong performance in the first ten minutes.  After the initial phase Otto Rehagel's side slowly overtook the control of the game and scored in the 20th minute,  after corner from the left side.  Ben-Hatira delivered the ball into the centre of the penalty box, which Roman Hubnik headed into the left corner of the target. For the remainder of the half Duesseldorf was unable to break out of their half.  Berlin missed several chances to increase the lead.  At halftime the teams parted with a 1-0 lead for Berlin.

Berlin continued to dominate during the opening segment of the second half but Duesseldorf came from nowhere and equaled the score.   Broeker moved around three Berliners in the penalty box and was in front of Thomas Kraft with no one to challenge him.  He fired the ball into the short corner for the 1-1 in the 64th minute. 

Things went from good to worse for Berlin when Adrian Ramos put the ball into his own net, giving Duesseldorf a 1-2 lead. 

While Duesseldorf picked up the pace in the final fifteen minutes, both teams had a opportunity to score.  Berlin's biggest chance was in the 88th minute when Ronny fired a free kick straight at the goal from 25 meters.  Bad luck had it that the ball hammered the right goal post.  In the 90th minute, Broker took a shot at Thomas Kraft's goal, but the keeper made a strong save, deflecting the ball around the goal post.

Fortuna Duesseldorf wins the first leg 2-1 and will now host Berlin in Duesseldorf on the 15th for the second leg.  While Berliner's did not get the result they hoped for, they can look forward to the DFB Pokal final on Saturday when FC Bayern battles Borussia Dortmund for the coveted cup.



Hertha BSC Berlin:  Thomas Kraft - Janker, Niemeyer, Hubnik, Holland - Perdedaj (Ronny 70th), Kobiasvili - Ebert (Torun 73rd), Raffael, Ben-Hatira - Ramos


Fortuna Duesseldorf: - Ratajczak - van den Bergh, Laneneke, Lukimya-Mulongoti, Levels -  Bodzek (Juanan 89th) - Lambertz, Fink, Boeker - Fink - Ilso (Matushyk 72nd) - Beister (Jovanovic 57th)