Hertha BSC striker Salomon Kalou scored a second-half equalizer as they stumbled to a 2-2 draw against bottom side Hanover 96 on Friday, opening the door to their rivals in the battle for Germany’s third Champions League spot.
The Ivorian forward slotted home, despite a bad first touch in the 73rd minute after Hanover, under interim coach Daniel Stendel following the sacking of Thomas Schaaf last week, had come from a goal down to lead 2-1.
Third-place Hertha, who have taken one point from their past two games, are on 49 points with five matches remaining. They are four points ahead of Borussia Moenchengladbach and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who both have a game in hand and had games scheduled for yesterday and today respectively.
Photo: AFP
The top three teams qualify for the Champions League group stage, with the fourth going into the competition’s qualifying rounds.
Hanover are in last place on 18 points, nine short of Augsburg in the relegation playoff spot.
The hosts got off to a perfect start with Vedad Ibisevic scoring from close range after three minutes for his ninth goal of the season.
However, Hanover, with former under-19 coach Stendel making his Bundesliga debut, leveled with their first chance of the game 16 minutes later with Artur Sobiech converting after a superb assist from Hiroshi Kiyotake.
The visitors looked to have completed a remarkable turnaround when former Hertha youth player Manuel Schmiedebach’s well-struck low drive went in off the post to stun the 40,000 crowd in the Olympic stadium.
However, Kalou came to the rescue when he turned well to drill in for his 14th league goal of the season, although it looked as though he had wasted the chance following a bad first touch from Julian Schieber’s pass.
Leaders Bayern Munich, five points clear at the top, were to take on VfB Stuttgart yesterday. Second-placed Borussia Dortmund, on 67 points, travel to neighboring Schalke 04 for their Ruhr valley derby today.
LA LIGA
AP, GRANADA, Spain
Granada’s fans jeered their team on Friday after a dull 0-0 home draw against Malaga left them just outside the Spanish league’s relegation zone.
Isaac Success had the match’s best scoring chance with 12 minutes left, only for Malaga goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa to paw away the ball when the striker tried to dribble around him instead of shooting.
Granada’s fourth straight draw left it two points above Real Sporting de Gijon and Getafe, who both occupy spots in the drop zone before their games this weekend.
“We have to treat each match as if it were the last now,” Granada’s Robert Ibanez said.
Malaga remained eighth.
Yesterday, leaders Barcelona were to visit Real Sociedad with a six-point advantage over Atletico Madrid, who visit RCD Espanyol. Third-placed Real Madrid host Sociedad Deportiva Eibar.
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