Just a minute and a half in, Lucio gives away a free kick over something stupid. Klose got knee'd straight away as well. I'm sure this is going to turn out to be an aggressive match on both sides since it will determine who takes over control of the second spot. Pantelic isn't in the line-up for Hertha so that could be a problem for them. van Bommel and Demichelis will have to mind their p's and q's today as they're all one yellow card away from serving a suspension.
Hertha have their first chance thanks to a Lell clearance that was planted straight to the foot of Hertha, but it sailed just wide. I am not at all amused by the way Lell is playing. It will be good to get Massimo back and hopefully Lell will go back to the bench because some of the plays are just ridiculous and we're only fifteen minutes in.
There has been a lot of good passing for Berlin though. Some good defending done by Demichelis. He's gotten the ball back quite a few times. Good effort, although a little boring, so far by both sides.
Great chance for Berlin at the 29th minute and if Ze Roberto hadn't been at the right place at the right time, Berlin would be up 1-0, but he cleared the ball off the line and got it away from the goal. He is truly a brilliant player. I really enjoy watching him play.
Toni got pulled at 34 minutes for Landon Donovan and again he didn't look very happy at all. Klinsmann said they had a talk last weekend after he was pulled, but evidently it didn't sink in since he still looked very annoyed.
Voronin finally finds the back of the net for Hertha putting them up 1-0 just before the half at 38 minutes. Great header by him. Rensing didn't make an attempt to move, not that he could've saved it anyways, but you should at east make an effort. This is one of the things that annoys me most about him.
They've updated and said the reason that Toni was taken off was due to an injury to his right leg. I didn't see anything that looked like he might've been hurt, but hopefully it's nothing too major and he'll be okay again soon.
Lucio gave away the ball to Hertha almost allowing for a second goal for Hertha. There is only a minute of stoppage time added on here and we come to a close with Berlin up 1-0.
Second half picks up and it's pretty much starting off the same way as the first. Hertha are a little quicker to push the ball to the net. Lucio slipped up and lost the ball, but fortunately Rensing was on target and took it back quickly. Donovan hasn't done much except give the ball back to Hertha since he came on for Toni. I haven't seen much from him that makes me think he's worth keeping. Maybe I'm just missing it.
Boro comes on for Lell at 58 minutes. He is also one card away from suspension so will have to be on his best behavior. Haven't seen too much out of Ribery today. Perhaps Hertha have figured him out. Hertha had another chance at goal, but it went just wide again.
Lucio kicked it in, it was rebounded for Schweini who didn't get it and it was rebounded again for Klose who heded the ball into the back of the net. He really enjoys scoring when Toni isn't around. Otherwise he's always passing the ball off, but this was brilliant. Welcome back Klose. Ribery, being the sweet goofy boy that he is sometimes gave Drobny some love for a good effort on the three stops before Miro's header and gave him a thumbs up. Sweet as it was, I'm not so sure he appreciated it much at the time.
Donovan nearly scored, but Drobny made a brilliant stop. He's been very good this entire match. Definitely the man of the match for Hertha this game. Bayern aren't playing very well and Berlin probably deserve to win this. Seems I spoke a little soon. Voronin just scored a second goal to put Berlin up 2-1 and their Captain, Arne Friedrich jumped on his back and got a little piggy back ride for a bit.
Bayern had a good chance and Lucio was probably offside, but it didn't matter because his header was stopped by Droby. Ribery gave a good try as well, but it went just wide of the net. Donovan takes a corner and its not a bad one, but Berlin get it away before Ribery steals it back earning the first yellow card of the game to Raffael. This earned him his fifth card of the season. Bayern get a corner and Drobny once again makes the save. He has been utterly brilliant this match.
van Bommel intercepted a nice run from Hertha and turned it back to Bayern's side. Franck gave a good effort, but it didn't amount to anything. They were given a corner though it didn't really look like Friedrich did anything to warrant Bayern getting the kick.
Hertha earned their second yellow card for Dardai pulling Klose down. They followed shortly with a double substitution to kill time no doubt. Two minutes of stoppage time was added and if Berlin can hold on, they will go top of the table.
Berlin take the win away from Berlin and go top of the table. They deserved it. van Bommel stole the ball a lot, but it was given right back quite a few times so it's not surprising that they didn't walk away with a win. Lell was awful today. I hope he doesn't get to play anymore when Oddo comes off of suspension. Lucio had some very bad defending plays today. Donovan had a good chance, but asie from that I didn't see anything fabulous out of him. The whole team seemed a little ho hum today. Drobny was definitely man of the match. He was brilliant. A well deserved win for Hertha.