Hertha BSC beats Eintracht Braunschweig 5:3 after two-goal deficit to take 2. Bundesliga lead
Hertha BSC overturned a two-goal deficit to defeat Eintracht Braunschweig 5:3 on Friday, securing their third consecutive league victory to move to the top of the 2. Bundesliga table.
Early Braunschweig advantage
Eintracht Braunschweig opened Friday's 2. Bundesliga fixture aggressively in front of 21,883 spectators, punishing early defensive lapses by Hertha BSC. In the tenth minute, an errant Hertha backpass landed directly in the path of Yann Sturm, who beat goalkeeper Marius Gersbeck to open the scoring. Braunschweig continued to generate scoring opportunities during the opening half-hour against the visiting Berlin side. In the 33rd minute, defender Kevin Ehlers found space inside the penalty area following a corner kick and headed the ball into the net to extend Braunschweig's lead to 2:0.
Berlin fightback before the break
Hertha mounted a response in the closing minutes of the first half, scoring twice in a span of five minutes. In the 44th minute, team captain Josip Brekalo fed Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson, whose deflected shot flew under the crossbar to cut the deficit to 2:1. Four minutes into first-half stoppage time, Braunschweig defender Mehmet Aydin committed a defensive error that gifted possession to Brekalo. Spotting Braunschweig goalkeeper Ron-Thorben Hoffmann off his line, Brekalo floated a measured shot into the net from approximately 40 meters out to level the score at 2:2 entering halftime.
Second-half turnaround and VAR penalty
Hertha maintained their attacking momentum immediately following the interval, taking the lead eight minutes into the second half. Brekalo released Thorsteinsson along the right flank in the 53rd minute, and the Icelandic winger's low delivery was deflected into his own goal by Ehlers. Braunschweig missed an opportunity to level the score in the 60th minute when midfielder Lino Tempelmann failed to convert a clear chance. Minutes later, Tempelmann pulled down Niklas Kolbe during a corner kick in the Braunschweig penalty area. After reviewing video replay monitors, referee Richard Hempel awarded a penalty kick, which Brekalo converted in the 69th minute for a 4:2 advantage. Oluwaseun Adewumi added Hertha's fifth goal in the 87th minute before Jan Urbich scored for Braunschweig in the 88th minute to conclude the scoring at 5:3.
- Yann Sturm scores to give Braunschweig a 1:0 lead after an errant Hertha backpass.
- Kevin Ehlers heads in from a corner to make it 2:0 for Braunschweig.
- Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson scores for Hertha BSC from Josip Brekalo's pass.
- Josip Brekalo equalizes for Hertha with a 40-meter strike past Ron-Thorben Hoffmann.
- Kevin Ehlers deflects a cross into his own net to put Hertha ahead 3:2.
- Josip Brekalo converts a penalty awarded via VAR for a foul on Niklas Kolbe.
- Oluwaseun Adewumi scores Hertha's fifth goal.
- Jan Urbich scores Braunschweig's third goal to set the final 5:3 scoreline.
Table standings and league context
The victory keeps Hertha BSC at the top of the 2. Bundesliga table with nine points from three matches under head coach Stefan Leitl. The Berlin club previously opened the league campaign with two consecutive wins and also secured a victory in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. 1. FC Nürnberg can retake the top position depending on their result on Saturday. For Braunschweig, the 5:3 loss followed a 4:2 defeat against Union Berlin the previous Sunday, a match in which Braunschweig had also surrendered 1:0 and 2:1 advantages. In another Friday second division fixture, VfL Bochum suffered a 0:1 home loss against newly promoted VfL Osnabrück at the Ruhrstadion. Ismail Badjie scored the winning goal for Osnabrück, earning the club its first points of the season after two opening defeats, while Bochum recorded a second straight scoreless home loss.
