4-0 win: Borussia break 70-point barrier

Dennis-Julian Gottschlich reporting from Berlin

A 76,197 capacity crowd at Berlin’s Olympic stadium saw an entertaining first half, but they had to wait until shortly before the interval for the goals to come from Lewandowski (41 mins) and Jojic (43 mins) to put the Black n Yellows 2-0 in front. BVB’s Polish striker made it 3-0 on 80 minutes with his second goal of the afternoon before Mkhitaryan sealed the win seven minutes from time.

The Scenario:

BVB went into the game trying to break the 70-point barrier and help Robert Lewandowski win the Golden Boot award in his last Bundesliga game in black and yellow - and they also wanted to make up for the 2-1 defeat at home to Hertha in the first game this season, while the home side had a chance to move up one place to ninth in the final standings.

Personal Matters:

Jürgen Klopp made one change to the side that beat Hoffenheim 3-2 last week, with 34-year-old Friedrich playing in place of Sokratis in central defence in his last Bundesliga game. Kirch shrugged off his recent illness to return to the bench, while Kehl (three days in training) and Bender (returned to training on Friday) missed out along with long-term absentees Blaszczykowski, Gündogan and Subotic. Hertha were without Kobiashvili, Lustenberger and Ronny.

Tactics:

Both sides decided to start with a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Hertha’s Wagner and Mukhtar constantly swapping between the attacking midfield and forward role.

The Game & Analysis:

Hertha BSC began in a confident mood and created their first good chance after only five minutes when Wagner bulleted a powerful header on goal from an Ndjeng corner, but Sahin was ideally placed at the far post to clear the ball away. This chance served as a wake-up call for BVB who now started to take charge of the contest.

The visitors controlled possession and played some quick passing football but failed to make the most of their dominance. BVB often tried to release Lewandowski, but they were struggling to find a finishing touch against Hertha’s well-marshalled defence. It took 20 minutes for their first chance of note when Grosskreutz and Reus broke into the area following a neat one-two, but were stopped just in time by Hertha’s Brooks and Pekarik. The next 20 minutes saw a lot of midfield action before BVB upped the pace again in the closing minutes before the interval.

The first chance of an action-packed last five first-half minutes fell to Schmelzer who forced his way into the area after good work from Mkhitaryan, but instead of shooting he unselfishly played the ball back but failed to find a taker in front of goal. Lewandowski did better a minute later when he picked up a pass from Hummels before firing from a central position past Hertha keeper Kraft into the bottom left corner to put BVB in front – and take the lead in the Bundesliga’s scoring charts.

Three minutes later it was Jojic who was picked out on the right side of the box before dispatching a fine curling effort into the left corner (44 mins) to make it 2-0 for the Black n Yellows. A minute earlier Reus already had a chance to double the advantage for BVB but was denied by Kraft before firing the rebound over the bar. It took the Black n Yellows only four minutes to put themselves into the driving seat in this game.

It was much the same in the second half as Borussia had two early chances to increase their lead through Reus (46 mins) and Jojic (49 mins), with the German blasting over from 13 yards and the Serbian being unlucky when his blocking effort, following a short back-pass, ricocheted just wide of the post. The home side needed 65 minutes to create their second chance of the game as Ndjeng curled a free-kick over the wall but saw his effort tipped over the crossbar by Weidenfeller who also produced a fine save to keep out a header from Ramos four minutes later.

At the other end, Lewandowski stepped up to take a free-kick from 20 yards and smashed home into the top left corner to put the game out of reach for the home side. It was his 20th goal of the season and it secured him the Golden Boot in the Bundesliga. Mkhitaryan added a fourth to the seal the win just two minutes later when he made the most of a misplaced shot by Aubameyang (83 mins).

Teams & Goals

Bundesliga, Matchday 34
HERTHA BSC – BORUSSIA DORTMUND 0-4 (0-2)

Hertha BSC: Kraft – Ndjeng, Langkamp, Brooks, Pekarik – Hosogai, Kobiashvili – Skjelbred, Mukhtar, Schulz - Wagner
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller – Piszczek, Friedrich, Hummels, Schmelzer – Jojic, Sahin – Mkhitaryan, Reus, Großkreutz – Lewandowski
Substitutions: 34. van den Bergh for Skjelbred, 58. Niemeyer for Langkamp, 64. Ramos for Kobiashvili - 46. Kirch for Sahin, 56. Sokratis for Hummels, 70. Aubameyang for Reus
Goals: 0-1 Lewandowski (41., Hummels), 0-2 Jojic (44.), 0-3 Lewandowski (80., free-kick), 0-4 Mkhitaryan (82., Aubameyang)
Corners: 9-0 (HT 3-0), Chances: 4-6 (1-3)
Referee: Stieler (Hamburg), Yellow cards: Schulz, Wagner
Attendance: 76,197 (sold out), Weather: sunny, 18 degrees

Prospects:

In the last and most important game of the season, Borussia Dortmund take on Bayern Munich in the DFB Cup final at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on Saturday (kick-off: 2000 CET).