Berlin volume one

We could play quite a few games in Berlin this season if all went well and luck was on our side as well. After all, besides the anual Cup Final, there is also a Championsleague Final in Berlin this season. I guess it is allowed to dream a little bit. But before we lose ourselves in our dreams, let’s face Berlin volume one: the good old Bundesliga away match against Hertha, or as Jürgen Klopp called it: It’s relegation battle. Luckily he also added that the team has accepted this situation and wants to use the chance on Saturday to take a big step forward.

Hoffenheim was a big victory already. It was not an easy game, since Hoffenheim never outed themselves to be one of our favourite opponents, however, this time we caught them on a bad day and used all we had in order to keep those three points at home. What followed was a rather difficult game (to watch) against Anderlecht in the CL, where we fullfilled our duty to gain at least one point, in order to finish top of the group. We managed to do exactly that with a pretty mixed line up and are curious to find out what the line up will look like in relegation battle.

Against Hoffenheim Hummels was back after being injured for quite a while, giving our defense a new form of strength that it actually really needed. Also Bender and Kehl played their part in the defense more than well, leading to Gündogan playing on the ten in a fantastic manner.

Against Hertha things may look different again. The mixed line-up against Anderlecht had, of course, again injury reasons, which do not appear to have been solved completely. Hence there is a question mark behind Hummels and Kehl, who were able to do some running practise, yesterday. Things look better for Piszczek, who will definetely be able to play against his old employer.

Hertha have found themselves in the middle of relegation battle as well, competing with us with the same number of points achieved. It would therefore be more than important to win this away game, in order to keep a direct competitor at distance.

This game will also be a meeting of old acquaintances for Ramos and Schieber who changed employers during summer. Ramos also worked very hard against Hoffenheim, so it would be nice to see him on the pitch against Hertha. Immobile, however, also advertised himself through his great goal against Anderlecht. We will see which decision Klopp will make. One decision that Klopp has made for sure is that Mitch will stay in the goal until the winterbreak.
On the other hand, Schieber had a great start in Berlin, scoring and being in the first 11 in every game. I always liked Schieber. When I met him once, he was very friendly and polite and took his time for the fans. Let’s hope he will be nice tomorrow as well and pause with the scoring for at least this match day.

All in all we will only be able to win this through fighting. Dortmund knows how to play great football, but as Hoffenheim has proven, sometimes it is important to find a good mixture out of playing well and fighting even more. Hoffenheim was an excellent team performance which we should try to build on. Come on Ballspielverein, let’s complete Berlin volume one!

Possible Line-Up

Hertha BSC: Kraft - Pekarik, Hegeler, Brooks, N. Schulz - Hosogai, Skjelbred - Beerens, Ronny, Ben-Hatira - Schieber

Coach: Luhukay

Ballspielverein: Langerak - Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - S. Bender, Kehl - H. Mkhitaryan, Gündogan, Aubameyang - Immobile

Coach: Jürgen Klopp

Referee: Günther Perl (Pullach)

Stadium: Olympiastadion (sold out)

Ida, 12.12.14