Hertha Berlin shuts out Bayern Munich in clinical 2-0 victory

Full time — Hertha has pulled off the upset. Bayern Munich fails to score in Berlin while conceding two first-half goals — a penalty and a very well-executed counter-attack. Nothing seemed to go Bayern’s way tonight.

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94’ — Duda gets a yellow card for wiping out Kimmich.

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93’ — Bayern are camped out deep in Hertha’s half, as even the center-backs push up the pitch, but Hertha are determined not to let Bayern score.

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90’ — Four minutes of stoppage time. Dilrosun gets a yellow card for time-wasting when he comes off for Jastrzemski.

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87’ — Bayern win yet another corner but cannot do anything with it.

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84’ — Bayern have taken 21 shots but only 2 on target.

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82’ — Gnabry makes a vain effort just outside the right post.

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78’ — Pardon the break in the liveblog. Serge Ganbry replaced Renato Sanches at 62’ (and Mathew Leckie relieved Kalou for Hertha at 71’) and Sandro Wagner replaced James at 72’, but Bayern still have nothing to show for their efforts. Kraft saved a good header by Boateng at 68’, and again by Kimmich at 79’.

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54’ — Frustrating from Müller: Kimmich delivers a perfect cross to Müller, who has his back to the goal. He tries to redirect it to Lewandowski, but it goes just out of his range.

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53’ — Davie Selke replaces Ibisevic for Hertha.

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51’ — Thomas Müller comes on for Arjen Robben.

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50’ — Thiago heads a corner on target, but it is cleared on the line by Javairo Dilrosun. Thomas Müller is now warming up on the sidelines.

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49’ — Renato Sanches takes a shot from far out past the penalty arc. It is deflected wide.

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48’ — Joshua Kimmich gets a yellow card for fouling Kalou as he dribbled past.

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Kickoff of the second half — We’re back! No changes as the second half begins. We’ll see how Bayern respond to this surprising deficit.

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Halftime — Bayern have enjoyed 66% possess and even won 63% of their duels, but Hertha’s efficient attacks have made the difference.

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43’ — GOAL Hertha! Hertha turn the screws on Bayern even tighter: this time, Kalou picks out Lazaro on a diagonal run across Bayern’s penalty area. From near the goal line, Lazaro passes it back to Ondrej Duda who hammers the ball past Neuer into the near corner. The hosts lead 2-0.

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40’ — Vedad Ibisevic sees the yellow card for a foul on Thiago.

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39’ — Robben fires the ball over the net from close range as Alaba delivers a perfectly timed cross.

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37’ — Robben leaps in to snatch the ball from Arne Meier, clipping him in the process. Meier eventually gets back on his feet.

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35’ — Bayern continue to press up the pitch especially through Ribery and Alaba on the left, but none of their final passes have found their mark. Hertha concede yet another corner, though.

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33’ — Ondrej Duda goes to ground. He seems to have hurt his arm somehow.

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31’ — Bayern’s defense looks sluggish today. They concede another corner as Niklas Süle gets in the way of a very dangerous pass to Lazaro. His corner finds Niklas Stark wide open for a header that fortunately flies over the bar.

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28’ — Hertha concede a third corner as they find no other way to break up Robben and Alaba.

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26’ — Kimmich attempts to retaliate with a shot that is deflected into the side netting.

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23’ — GOAL: HERTHA! Manuel Neuer came up big to stop a header by Vedad Ibisevic, who beat Niklas Süle to connect with a cross from out right. But Jerome Boateng was called for a penalty after he tackled Kalou in the penalty area in the scramble for the rebound. Ibisevic did not miss twice.

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20’ — Ribery turns on the speed to blow past Lazaro and deliver a cross to Lewandowski, but his header goes wide.

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14’ — Jerome Boateng just misses the far post of the net on a wide open header off a corner kick taken by James Rodriguez.

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12’ — Hertha again come dangerously close: this time, a cross intended for Ibisevic arrives just a split second too early, allowing Niklas Süle to deflect it out to Kimmich.

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10’ — Robert Lewandowski goes down in an awkward collision that seems to have hurt his opponent more than him.

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7’ — Hertha’s ensuing counter-attack rattles Bayern’s defense: Kalou finds himself in possession deep in Bayern’s penalty box before he’s closed down; then Lazaro delivers a dangerous cross to the center spot. Bayern is able to defuse the threats.

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6’ — Joshua Kimmich takes Bayern’s first corner kick to a chorus of boos. Thomas Kraft cannot hold the ball, but Valentino Lazaro makes a very picturesque bicycle-kick clearance.

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Kickoff! — and we’re off. It’s been back and forth in the opening minutes. The Bayern fans in the away block meanwhile are not amused to see the team’s mint-colored away jerseys again. They’ve staged a choreo declaring “The club colors are red and white!”

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5 minutes to kickoff — The players are in the tunnel waiting to come out now. Funny to see Vedad Ibisevic joking with the youngster he’s been paired with. The ball will soon be rolling.

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1 hour before kickoff — The lineup is out:

Kovac has fielded a stronger side that the one that faced Augsburg, but the lineup also features some interesting choices. The biggest surprise: since Leon Goretzka remains sidelined by a minor ankle injury,Renato Sanches has received another chance to shine as Bayern’s no. 8 alongside a presumeably deeper-lying Thiago Alcantara. Up front, James Rodriguez will start at the 10 spot between Robben and Ribery, pushing Thomas Müller to the bench after he played the full match against Augsburg.

And here’s Hertha:

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If Bayern Munich had managed to win against Augsburg, then this could have been a record-breaking day for Niko Kovac. As it stands though, there will be no records broken at the Olympiastadion, where Hertha Berlin will try to make the Bavarians’ lives hell.

Hertha Berlin has always been a difficult opponent to face, especially at their home stadium, so expect Bayern Munich to go all out with the lineup for this one. Kovac rested a lot of his starting XI for Augsburg, so the likes of James Rodriguez, Robert Lewandowski, and Thiago Alcantara should be fit and ready to go.

However, we might see a small surprise at left back — Johnathan Meier, a player from FCB II, has been called up for this game. With Rafinha’s absence and Goretzka’s untimely injury in the previous game, the coach may feel that David Alaba lacks sufficient rest to be ready for the match against Ajax Amsterdam in midweek. Meier could just be a backup option in case of injuries, but there’s also a good chance that he sees the pitch tonight.

It’s Bayern time.

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Match Info

Location: Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany

Time: 8:30 pm local time, 2:30 pm EST

TV/streaming: Find Your Country

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