RB Leipzig 2-2 Hertha Berlin: Hosts survive in tense draw

The unpredictability of the German Bundesliga has been on full display over the course of the league’s restart, and as we look ahead to the immediate future, it doesn’t appear as if that’s going to change anytime soon. Tonight, we saw that on full display once again as yet another away team – Hertha Berlin – put up one hell of a fight against the favourites RB Leipzig are were unlucky to only come away with a point from the game.

More questions than answers

This encounter served as a golden opportunity for Leipzig to springboard Borussia Dortmund into second place, but instead, they gave Bayern Munich an improved advantage in the race for the title. Hertha were able to open the scoring early on courtesy of a strike from Marko Grujic, with Lukas Klostermann’s header leveling the score at 1-1 – which is how it stayed heading into half time.

Patrik Schick put Leipzig into the lead for the first time in the game midway through the second half, increasing the likelihood of them piling the pressure onto the shoulders on Bayern. Alas, it wasn’t quite meant to be as a penalty was awarded in the final ten minutes when Ademola Lookman fouled Matheus Cunha and gave Krzysztof Piatek a golden opportunity to snatch a point for Hertha, which he took with both hands.

Where did it go wrong?

Leipzig were on their way to securing the win with ten men, too, after Marcel Halstenberg had been sent off in the 63rd minute for a second yellow card. If anything, though, when Hertha equalised, they were the ones that could’ve easily gone on to claim all three points.

RB Leipzig can’t spend too long licking their wounds as they’ve got a big trip coming up this weekend when they visit Koln, before another home game against Paderborn. Hertha will try and use this point as fuel themselves when they go head to head with Augsburg, and following that, they’ll attempt to really prove themselves in the race for the European spots when they tackle title contenders Borussia Dortmund away from home.

Match Report

RB Leipzig: Gulacsi (6), Halstenberg (4), Upamecano (6.5), Klostermann (7.5), Adams (6.5), Laimer (7), Sabitzer (6.5), Nkunku (7), Olmo (6), Werner (6.5), Schick (7.5), Lookman (5.5), Angelino (6), Orban (6), Wolf (6)

Hertha Berlin: Jarstein (5), Pekarik (6), Boyata (6.5), Torunarigha (7), Plattenhardt (7), Grujic (7.5), Skjelbred (6), Lukebakio (6.5), Darida (6.5), Cunha (7.5), Ibisevic (6.5), Ngankam (6), Pitaek (6.5), Dilrosun (6.5), Maier (6.5), Mittelstadt (7)

Referee: Bastian Dankert

Goals: Klostermann, Schick :: Grujic, Piatek

Yellow Cards: Halstenberg x2, Pekarik, Torunarigha, Cunha

Red Cards: Halstenberg