German Bundesliga
2010-03-27 - Hertha Berlin vs Borussia Dortmund
A Sports Betting Pick by Niko
Olympic Stadium
Saturday, 27th March 2010 – kickoff 15:30
Hertha Berlin
Hertha Berlin are still nailed at the last position in the Bundesliga, but now they are five points behind the place that leads into play-out match with the third placed team in the 2.Bundesliga. They played a really impressive game last week and unexpectedly demolished Vfl Wolfsburg 1-5 away which gives a little more hope in the team that they can manage to escape the drop zone.
Coach Friedhelm Funkel will use the same players that were in the starting line up last weekend against Wolfsburg, which means that the team will play with two strikers up front with Theofanis Gekas and Adrian Ramos who both scored last week.
The offensive midfielder Florian Kringe has a foot injury and will be out of the squad for two weeks. The right defender Lukasz Piszczek complained to a thigh injury last week and there is a question mark over him whether he will able to play, but the injury did not look that serious so he will be probably included in the starting line up once again.
Probable Hertha Berlin line-up :
Piszczek, Frederick, Hubnik, Kobiashvili,
Lustenberger, Kacar, Cicero, Raffael,
Gekas, Ramos
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund have been in very good form lately and last week they really played great football and won 3-0 against the championship contenders Bayer Leverkusen, who missed a chance to go top after the Bayer Munich`s loss.
The goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller had a fantastic match with five or six miraculous saves and was the man of the match last week.
Borussia Dortmund have now three wins in a row and they have scored at least three goals in each of those matches while conceding just one goal (goal difference 10-1 in the last three games).
Lucas Barrios has been also in great form since his return from the injury and he is the top striker in the Bundesliga with 15 goals scored so far. The Egyptian International Mohamed Zidan also plays very well recently and in the last three matches he scored three goals and had two assists which is great news for the coach who uses Zidan as an offensive midfielder in a diamond formation.
Borussia Dortmund are sitting at the fourth place at the table with 48 points and three points ahead of Werder Bremen. Great news for the team is that with Werder Bremen`s win over FC Augsburg in the DFB Cup semifinal match last Tuesday, Werder Bremen have secured a place in Europe for next season which puts Borussia Dortmund in pole position for the last place that leads into Euro cups as they are now ten points clear of the non-European places with just seven matches remaining until the end of the Bundesliga season.
For this match against Hertha Berlin, Coach Jurgen Klopp can not count on the services of Mats Hummels (broken jaw), Tinga (lacks fitness), Damien Le Tallec (groin) and Nelson Valdez (injury rehabilitation). Nuri Sahin returns in the team after serving one match suspension due to five yellow cards.
Probable Borussia Dortmund line-up :
Owomoyela, Subotic, Felipe Santana, Schmelzer,
Kehl, Sahin,
Blaszczykowski, Zidan, Grosskreutz,
Barrios
The Betting Verdict
The first match between these teams ended in 2-0 victory for Borussia Dortmund. In Berlin, Hertha have a better overall record against Borussia Dortmund with 12 wins, six draws and six defeats.
Hertha Berlin played an impressive match against Vfl Wolfsburg last week and after long, long time they managed to win convincingly. However, I do not think that Hertha Berlin have the capacity and what it takes to stay in the Bundesliga. After being placed at the rock bottom for the whole season i do not think that one win changes the fact that the team lacks team chemistry and better players.
On the other side, Borussia Dortmund will sure take this match more seriously, they are really gaining momentum right now and I even think that if they continue with their good form, they can fight for the third place which is the last place that leads in the Champions league qualifications.
It may be a tougher match than expected, but i think that Borussia Dortmund are much better team, have more quality players and that they will get the win here. The price on Borussia Dortmund win is better than i have expected and i think it`s worth a shot.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Hertha Berlin-Borussia Dortmund 0-2
