Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Hertha Berlin
It’s been an eventful seven days for Jadon Sancho.
He began the week by netting his first ever career hat-trick as Borussia Dortmund hit six past bottom club Paderborn in a second half Bundesliga rout.
Then he was fined by the German football league after being pictured having his haircut at home without wearing a mask.
The 20 year-old promptly criticised the decision in a Twitter post which he later deleted.
So perhaps there was a certain inevitability that the young Englishman was in the spotlight yet again at the Signal Iduna Park.
Highlights of the game
The expectation on the hosts and their in-form star turn was coupled with an element of pressure as kick-off approached after league leaders Bayern Munich won impressively at Bayer Leverkusen to take a step closer to retaining the title.
That pushed the chances of an outside Dortmund title triumph further adrift.
And, despite the SBOBET Bundesliga betting odds firmly in favour of a home win, they also knew they could not afford any kind of slip-up with no room for error as they started the match now 10 points behind Bayern.
When the crucial moment arrived, of course Sancho played a part.
Just before the hour mark, he chipped the ball to Julian Brandt whose neat knockdown found Emre Can on the edge of the box and he curled the ball beyond Rune Jarstein.
It was a well-worked team goal and a rare moment of Bundesliga highlights on an afternoon when the home side were restricted by a well organised Hertha Berlin.
The goal followed a Sancho effort narrowly wide, while Alexander Esswein went very close for the visitors who, until then, had frustrated the hosts for long spells and looked solid, despite the home side being roared on by crowd noise played through speakers.
The virtual crowd even extended to a whistle against a referee’s decision as the sound mixer in the stadium found his stride!
As the rain came down, Hertha threw on attackers as they tried to extend their five-match unbeaten run since the restart.
Something we’ve not heard about much since March, VAR, reared its head again seven minutes from time.
A Sancho corner found Can and the hosts appealed for a handball against Dedryck Boyata from the German’s half-volley. The virtual crowd even booed when no spot-kick was awarded!
Thankfully, the official wasn’t swayed!
Sancho, perhaps expectedly, had the final word in the final minute as he skipped into the box, played a one-two with Raphael Guerreiro and skipped past his marker before forcing a fine save from Jarstein.
It didn’t matter. Dortmund had victory and their faint title hopes are still alive – just!
A sign of solidarity before kick-off too as players and staff from both clubs took a knee in a show of support for the BlackLivesMatter movement
Dortmund players also warmed up in T-shirts with messages including “no peace, no justice” and “united together”.
Key statistics
Dortmund have won 30 of their 66 Bundesliga meetings with Hertha Berlin, who have won none of the last six (drawn two, lost four).
Sancho has scored three times and registered three assists in just five league games against Hertha.
This was only Can’s second goal for Dortmund, and his first at the Signal Iduna Park.
Lucien Favre, now Dortmund boss, was Hertha coach from 2007 to September 2009, leading the capital club to fourth place in the 2008/09 season.
Berlin manager Bruno Labbadia has never won in Dortmund in eight attempts (four draws, four defeats).
This was Labbadia’s first defeat since his appointment as Berlin boss two months ago.
This was away skipper Vedad Ibisevic’s 336th Bundesliga appearance, taking him level with Ze Roberto and behind only Claudio Pizarro, Naldo, Halil Altintop and Levan Kobiashvili as foreign players with the most league appearances.
Hertha Berlin’s Vladimir Darida covered 14.7 kilometres in today’s game, the most in any Bundesliga game since data collection began.
What’s next?
Both sides are back in action next Saturday (June 13).
Dortmund travel to a Fortuna Dusseldorf side fighting to protect their top flight status, while Hertha Berlin welcome Eintracht Frankfurt to the Olympiastadion.
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