As four Bayern players closed in, Drobný palmed the loose ball away from Schweinsteiger, but only into the path of the onrushing Miroslav Klose who bundled home an untidy equalizer.
Ribery sought to console the beleaguered goalkeeper after his commendable display of resilience, but he seemed uninterested. He was entitled to expect better assistance from his momentarily inattentive back line.
Donovan had a second opportunity to find the net at the 71-minute mark when he was sent clear on the left by Ribery. The sprawling Drobný blocked his low shot.
Although, neither of his openings had been clear-cut, the American international would have expected to score one of his two chances.
To the delight of the majority of the 74,228 crowds in Berlin’s Olympiastadion, the hosts made him pay for that miss at 77-minutes with a game-winner of the highest quality.
Hertha launched a quick break from deep inside their half with Brazilian, Raffael, advancing towards Bayern’s retreating backline.
Voronin displayed textbook movement in eluding his marker Lucio and timing his diagonal run to perfection, allowing Raffael to slip an immaculately weighted pass into the path of the on-loan Liverpool striker.
The Ukrainian buried his first time effort beyond Rensing to seal a momentous and richly deserved victory.
Hertha leap-frogged Bayern and Hoffenheim—thrashed 4-1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Friday—to take pole position, with Martin Jol’s vastly improved Hamburg also firmly in contention one point behind the new leaders.
With Drobný in spellbinding form, a recall to the Czech national team may be on the horizon—especially given the continuing fragility of Chelsea’s highly over-rated Petr Čech.
As for Bayern, Donovan will likely receive his first start in next week’s clash with Köln.
His chances of earning a permanent deal will be greatly enhanced if he can make an impact.
3 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete