Wolfsburg 2-3 Hertha
The Wolves suffered their second home defeat of the season as the visiting side Hertha edged a five goal thriller on Saturday afternoon. The capital city club ran out the 3-2 winners of the round 15 Bundesliga match, in front of 25,000 in the VOLKSWAGEN ARENA. The Hertha hero of the day was Marcelinho, who put in a world class performance, scoring all three of Hertha’s goals. It was the third successive away win for coach Falko Götz and Co.
Spotlight on the playmakers
The game was always going to be an interesting affair with Wolfsburg strong at home and Hertha strong away from home. The spotlight was especially focused on the playmakers. Andres D’Alessandro of Wolfsburg returned to the side after serving a two match suspension. On the other side of the halfway line stood Hertha’s brilliant Brazilian, Marcelinho. The visitors began the brighter of the two sides and Thorben Marx missed a good chance to put his side ahead after only three minutes. His right footed shot shaved a post as it flew wide.
Sarpei boobs – Marcelinho ice cold
After 16 minutes Hertha took the lead, as Hans Sarpei inexplicably messed up an attempted back pass which Marcelinho latched onto and showed the Wolves player a clean pair of heels as he sped off. The Brazilian playmaker rounded the Wolfsburg keeper Jentzsch before coolly slotting home from 10 metres out. That goal shocked and numbed the home side, who looked punch drunk for a while. Sarpei never got over his boob and was promptly substituted by Erik Gerets after only 25 minutes. He was replaced by striker Thomas Brdaric, a move which was to prove to be the right one later in the game. On 35 minutes Marcelinho had a gilt edged opportunity to put his side two goals up, but good work by Simon Jentzsch thwarted the Hertha midfielder. Hertha went into the half time break with a slender but deserved one goal lead.
Brdaric gives Wolfsburg hope
It took only two minutes after the start of the second half for the army of several thousand travelling Hertha faithful to be sent into raptures of joy again. Marcelinho duped Maik Franz in the Wolfsburg penalty area, before firing home a shot into the left hand corner from 1 metres out. Hertha’s joy was short lived because Wolfsburg’s best player Pablo Thiam scored on 50 minutes with a superbly struck shot from 2 metres outside the area. After 68 minutes Thomas Brdaric justified his participation as he headed in a Petrov free kick. It was his first headed goal since joining the Wolves from Hanover at the start of the season.
Marcelinho grabs his third
Marcelinho easily the man of the match, was in no mood to settle for a point. On 74 minutes he once again capitalised on a mistake by the home side, as Franz lost possession to the Brazilan who rounded Jentzsch again before gleefully slotting home from an acute angle. Towards the end Wolfsburg tried hard, but could not breach the strong Hertha defence. It was the second home defeat for Erik Gerets and Co. The win was Hertha’s third straight victory away from home. The man of the day was undoubtedly Marcelinho, who was world class in Wolfsburg. The Wolves are now third in the Bundesliga table. They could drop to fourth should VfB Stuttgart win away to Hanover on Sunday.
VfL Wolfsburg: Jentzsch - Sarpei (25. Brdaric), Franz (78. Hristov), Hofland, Weiser - Karhan, Schnoor, Thiam - D'Alessandro (84. Ahumada) - Klimowicz, Petrov
Hertha : Fiedler - Schröder, Madlung, Simunic, Fathi - Kovac (61. Dardai) - Marx, Bastürk, Marcelinho (81. Bobic), Gilberto - Rafael (70. Reina)
Goals: 0:1 Marcelinho (16.), 0:2 Marcelinho (47.), 1:2 Thiam (50.), 2:2 Brdaric (68.), 2:3 Marcelinho (74.)
Source: vfl-wolfsburg.de
