Schalke 04 just about dealt with Hertha Berlin at the Olympiastadion, coming out 2-1 victors to go level on points with Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga. Berlin were hardly pushovers, as the hosts controlled much of the possession and threatened to draw level for most of the second half, although Schalke threatened to kill things off whenever they were able to counterattack.
Hertha Berlin Vs. Schalke 04, 2011 Bundesliga: Schalke Grab 3 Points
All three goals were scored in the first half, with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar taking advantage of an awful attempted clearance by Roman Hubnik to crash a left-footed shot past Thomas Kraft in the nineteenth minute before Gustavo Ramos restored parity shortly thereafter with a bullet header. With the game fairly evenly matched, it was up to the individual players to provide a moment of genius, and Schalke's Teemu Pukki was the man to do so, brilliantly fending off a pair of defenders before rifling an unstoppable shot into the back of the net from just outside the area shortly before the interval.
Schalke had their lead and after the break were mostly content to hold it, defending well and ceding possession to Berlin, who frustrated themselves time after time against their guests’ massed ranks. The end would have been a little less nervy if Schalke had been a little more surgical with their shooting, but in the end that wasn’t to matter - they emerged with the win and all three points.
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