3-1 – Volland and Havertz seal win against Hertha

In the final match of the year, Bayer 04 made four changes to the side that faced Schalke last time out: Tin Jedvaj was at left back in place of Wendell, Charles Aránguiz replaced Dominik Kohr in defensive midfield, Julian Brandt took over from Karim Bellarabi on the wing and Kevin Volland played up front in place of Lucas Alario. The skipper Lars Bender was not in the squad due to a muscular problem so Julian Baumgartlinger wore the captain's armband.

great attack for opener

The hosts had the first sniff of an opening goal after three minutes. Volland showed his physical strength in a challenge, shook off Marvin Plattenhardt and fired a right-foot shot against the bar. It was not long before the ball was in the back of the Berlin net. After an impressive attack involving Volland, Leon Bailey, Kai Havertz and Aránguiz, Volland hit the ball back across the goalkeeper Rune Jarsteins and into the net for the opener on six minutes – his sixth goal of the season and the hoped-for successful start for the Werkself. The opening 15 minutes of the game clearly saw the lively and mobile hosts on top.

The dominance of the Werkself brought further success. After a poor mistake by the Hertha keeper Jarstein, Havertz was on the right spot to fortunately turn the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-0 (23' ).  It was goal number five of the season for the 19-year-old Germany international. But the Berliners hit back out of the blue from a set piece: Torunarigha scored at the far post from a corner to put Hertha back in touch at 2-1 (26'). Bayer 04 continued to press forward and remained on the front foot. Brandt hit a low shot to the near post but Jarstein dived at the right moment to make the save (35').

At the other end, Lukas Hradecky did not have any problems holding on to a header from Matthew Leckie (41'). And, with a shot from Vladimir Darida, the Bayer 04 keeper was able to punch clear (42'), and then he saved an effort from Ondrej Duda(43'). A curler from Brandt towards the far post flew a metre wide of the target (44'). Then Duda missed another chance for Hertha (45'), Aleksandar Dragovic deflected a shot from Valentino Lazaro away for a corner (45' +2). Hertha came back into the game at the end of the first half but the Werkself took a 2-1 lead into the break.

crafty Havertz 

After the restart, Bayer 04 only needed four minutes to strike again early in the second half: A great pass from  Aránguiz found the outstanding Havertz, who covered an incredible amount of ground in the game, in a one-on-one with Jarstein and he beat the Hertha keeper with a crafty lob – 3-1 (49'). The Berliners had to show more and that gave Bayer 04 the space to counter and just after the hour mark Brandt ended a move with a shot that went just wide of the far post (63'). Shortly after that, Alario replaced Volland (72').

Hradecky keeps out Selke

Hertha Berlin refused to give up and the substitute Pascal Köpke came close on 73 minutes. The visitors brought on Vedad Ibisevic to play with two strikers and Bellarabi came on for Brandt (75'). A shot from Jedvaj was turned round the post by Jedvaj (77'). Alario slipped and missed out  in a promising counter-attack involving Bellarabi (79'). A shot from Dragovic was cleared off the line by Fabian Lustenberger (80'). Hradecky then pulled off a brilliant save to deny David Selke (81') – it was end to end at this point.

Sven Bender came on for Jonathan Tah (84') to make his 200th Bundesliga appearance. Havertz aimed for the far corner but his effort went wide (86'). And Mitchell Weiser also missed the target (90'+2). Then came the final whistle  and the fans were able to celebrate an atmospheric and festive end to the year  in a darkened BayArena.

The Werkself now go into a short winter break. The first match in the New Year is at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday 19 January with a 15.30 CET kick-off at the BayArena.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Hradecky – Weiser, Tah (S. Bender 84'), Dragovic, Jedvaj – Baumgartlinger, Aránguiz – Brandt (Bellarabi 76'), Havertz, Bailey – Volland (Alario 72')

Hertha Berlin: Jarstein – Lazaro, Lustenberger, Torunarigha, Plattenhardt – Darida (Ibisevic 75'), Maier – Leckie (Pekarik 54'), Duda, Mittelstädt (Köpke 70') – Selke

Goals: 1-0 Volland (6'), 2-0 Havertz (23'), 2-1 Torunarigha (26'), 3-1 Havertz (49')

Referee: Tobias Stieler (Hamburg)

Booked: Torunarigha

Attendance: 27,000