At the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany, Hertha BSC and FC Köln will go toe-to-toe on Saturday afternoon. These two sides are level on points and currently sit in the 12th and 11th spots respectively.
After falling behind 1-0 to Hannover with 15 minutes left to go in the match, Valentin Stocker found the back of the net in the 83rd minute to share the spoils and keep Hertha BSC well above a relegation spot. This has been Hertha's style ever since Pál Dárdai took over as the interim manager. The capital club never believes that they are truly out of a match until the final whistle blows. In fact, they have picked up at least a point in their last six matches since they fell to Wolfsburg 2-1 on the 22nd of February. Dárdai has been without a couple of his key players in recent weeks and his club has not faultered. Once these footballers are back to full strength, expect the capital club to really kick on and perhaps end the campaign in the top half of the table which would be a big accomplishment considering where they were a few months ago.
Köln are currently sitting in the 11th spot level on points with their match rivals, Hertha BSC and Borussia Dortmund while they are just two points behind 9th place Werder Bremen. In their last match out against Hoffenheim they held on to a 3-2 victory despite being down to ten men after Pawe Olkowski was sent off with 21 minutes remaining. The Billy Goats have had an extremely inconsistent season as they have won only six matches, while drawing eleven and losing the other eleven. Peter Stöger's men are led up front by 24-year-old Nigerian striker Anthony Ujah who has a very good goal ratio as he has found the back of the net ten times in 23 league apperances. If Köln really wants to be competitive next season, they will have to find another goal scorer because no one else on their roster comes close to Ujah's tally.
Hertha's injury struggles continue as the hosts are still without van den Bergh, Beerens, Ben-Hatira, Cigerci, Hosogai, and Schieber. On the flip side of things, Helmes and Deyverson are battling their lengthy spell on the sidelines with Olkowski, Wallenborn, Gerhardt, and Halfar are all missing this clash.
This match is going to come down to the side that is having the better day in the attacking third of the pitch. The two are going to be very organized on the defensive side and it will take a moment of brilliance from an individual or in a team build-up. In the end, however, there will not be enough to really seperate the two sides and this match will most likely end in a 1-1 or 2-2 draw.