Nothing to brag about, but at least until tomorrow afternoon, Hertha BSC are top of the Bundesliga following their 1-1 home draw at home to Werder Bremen. Pal Dardai’s side missed the chance, however, to start a new Bundesliga season with back-to-back wins for the first time in the club’s history.
Hertha got off to an electric start, taking the lead in the 6th minute through Valentin Stocker, before Anthony Ujah bagged his first Bundesliga goal in Werder colours to equalise for the guests. It was a well earned point for Bremen, who did well to avoid back-to-back defeats having lost 3-0 to Schalke 04 last week.
The ball landed in just the right spot for Stocker, who scored the opening goal in front of the 50,000 strong crowd at the Olympiastadion. After an initial blocked effort, the Swiss international buried the rebound into the top of the goal past the helpless Felix Wiedwald in goal.
The hosts had chances to make it 2-0 in the moments after the opener, but were unable to make it pay in front of goal. At least until new Werder striker Anthony Ujah popped up with the equaliser. The Nigerian leapt high to head the ball on goal, before eventually turning in the second chance with a stabbed shot from close range. The goal proved a catalyst for Werder as they then sought to take the lead. New signing Aaron Jóhannsson meanwhile, who was making his full debut for Werder, had a relatively quiet game in Berlin.
Just as in the first half, the Berlin side started a lot stronger in the second. Unlike in the first half, however, Stocker fluffed his lines when presented with the chance to put Hertha back in the lead. First, the Swiss midfielder put the ball over from inside the box, before having his next shot blocked at the last second by Werder defender Assani Lukimya.
Bremen lined up defensively to ensure they didn’t concede another and were initially prudent going forward. Peter Pekarik sought to punish the guests, but his effort midway through the second half hit the outside netting. In the final quarter of an hour, Mitchell Weiser game on to make his Hertha debut, having signed from Bayern München this summer.
In the end, Hertha were lucky not to lose after the guests rattled the woodwork twice in the space of 60 seconds. Sebastian Langkamp almost headed the ball into his own net, but was saved by the crossbar, before Jannik Vestergaard headed Junuzovic’s corner onto the post just moments later. In the 82nd minute, the crowd cheers as Alexander Baumjohann made his long-awaited comeback after 482 days out injured.
