Hertha BSC on Thursday climbed out of the Bundesliga relegation zone with a 3-0 home win over SC Freiburg in their second match after coming out of a two-week quarantine.
An outbreak of COVID-19 cases saw the Hertha squad quarantined in the middle of last month from which they only emerged on Friday last week when training resumed.
After a 1-1 draw against FSV Mainz 05 on Monday, Hertha have now picked up four points from two of their three postponed games.
Photo: Reuters
Polish striker Krzysztof Piatek, Peter Pekarik and Nemanja Radonjic scored the goals at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
The result lifted Hertha from second-from-bottom up to 14th, but there is just one point between them and the three clubs below with three weeks left this season.
With his team now halfway through playing four games in nine days, Hertha coach Pal Dardai made nine changes from the side that drew with Mainz.
“It didn’t matter,” Dardai told Sky when asked about his heavily-rotated lineup. “We were fit, played very well and were very compact. The spaces were there in the second half, we really wanted the third goal.”
Dardai said the quarantine has brought the squad together in the relegation battle.
“Something is growing together here now. Egos have been pushed to the side, everyone from the Hertha family is joining in,” he said.
Hertha have four games left, one more than their rivals, all against sides in the bottom half of the table.
Tomorrow’s opponents DSC Arminia Bielefeld replaced them in the bottom three.
The win caps a turbulent few days for Hertha, who on Wednesday dismissed former Arsenal and Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann from their supervisory board for making a jibe deemed to be racist.
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