I was lucky enough to be invited to go to the "VIP Lounge" after the match and see some of the players when they came through.  I would like to offer many, many thanks to Maria Köhler for her kind and hospitable invitation.

I apologise in advance for anyone viewing these pages as I am not a pretty sight but, I just
have to show some of these pictures. I'm sure I could have seen even more but I was a bit of a startled rabbit really!   I didn’t know where to look or what to do next - things like this don't happen to me!!!!

I'll add a few notes when I have time later - just now I need to crash!

Match day 23 finds the "Red Devils" of Kaiserslautern coming to the Olympiastadion to face Hertha. Kaiserslautern could only manage a 0:0 draw against the "Blue Zebras" of MSV Duisburg on matchday 22 and so fell back to ten points behind Hertha in the table in the playoff spot. Perhaps critically, they had Idrissou sent off after the 65 minute so he will play no part in the occasion in Berlin.

There are worries about the attendance in the stadium for this home match with only 20,000 tickets having been sold for the game just after the Berlin derby. By the night before the match, BZ reported ticket sales of 34.011.  On the night the big screens anounced 37, 347 tickets were sold for the match.

Several factors may be in play with the early worries including: It's Monday night so not easy to get to, its cold, its soon after the derby and people may have had to choose between the two, its on "free" TV and, did I mention, it's cold!  Some people in the bar I was in a few hours before the match were settling in for the night in front of the TV with Hertha flags to wave saying about it being cold.  Well I went and it wasn't too bad really.

I believe I am correct in saying that Hertha offered a range of good tickets on the Tribüne lower tier for just €11. That's less than £10!!! That is just such amazing value - what can I say? You would almost pay that for a burger at The Bridge.  

We went into this match with the 10 point lead on Kaiserslautern in third spot with just twelve games remaining in the Rückrunde. This means we needed 27 points from the remaining games to secure promotion - assuming Kaiserslautern win all of their games. including against us, and that is a big assumption. As it turned out - a very big assumption!

At the moment the next closest rival is Köln who are still 13 points behind us even after beating Union 2:0 on Saturday (Spieltag 23). The surprise result on Sunday where Braunschweig lost at home to 1860 München. Ex Hertha player Rob Friend gave us a boost by scoring the first off the two goals for 1860 with the second coming with just five minutes of the match remaining from Benjamin Lauth. The final result of 1:2 gives Hertha another opportunity to go top - even a point clear on Monday!

The squad announced by Hertha via Twitter:
Kraft Burchert Ndjeng Niemeyer Ramos Brooks Schulz Kluge Morales Wagner Pekarik Lusti Knoll Ronny Kobi Holland Lasogga Franz

The next major event was a loose challenge by Baumjohann in the 33rd minute who was handed a red card for his trouble.  I didn't see the foul well from the stand to be honest but the game was an uphill struggle for a spell from this point.  Hertha lost many chances to offsides with long balls coming over the top to player hopelessly stranded.  We had a total of 10 offsides during the game - clearly timing is everything.

Although both teams went in at half time at 0:0 the deadlock was broken by Peer Kluge in the 68th minute.  Kaiserslautern never really looked a threat after the sending off,  We had a total of ten shots at goal to their two and our goal all but wrapped it up.

Spitzenreiter, Spitzenreiter, Hey Hey!  Top of the table with 11 games to play - 13 points clear of the playoff spot with 33 points left up for grabs so just 21 points needed, maybe less!

Even I can start to have grounds for very cautious optimism!  But, never take anything for granted . . . it could all still go very wrong . .

We took a Sunday afternoon stroll past the Volkspark in Wilmersdorf this afternoon. There was a match due to be played this afternoon against SV Empor Berlin but local matches had been cancelled due to the weather..

I couldn't resist taking a snap of this poster showing the one and only Ronny to encourage people to come to the Kaiserslautern match on Monday at the Olympiastadion.

Saturday the 16th sees Hertha playing away against VfR Aalen. This is the return match for the 2:0 Heimsieg for Hertha back in September. That was a fantastic late summer day in Berlin with a lovely cycle home afterwards - bliss!

VfR Aalen have had a mini run with three games unbeaten including a win against Kaiserlautern and a 1:1 draw against the leaders Braunschweig. No grounds for complacency there I think. It will be a tough match on Saturday.

The team announced on Saturday morning via Facebook -

We had a phone call on Staturday morning saying some friends were coming down and wanted to see us for lunch! Great to see them but when a Hertha game was on . . .

This was the first game I haven't watched, one way or the other, for ages. Can't really comment much other than the deadlock was broken by Ndjeng in the 76th minute after being set up by Ramos. It ended 0:1 to Hertha with three valuable points and Hertha extending their unbeaten run to 20 games!

Both the top two teams of 2. Bundedliga have won in Spieltag 22 and it just remains to see how Kaiserlautern do tomorrow. Will they close the gap again?

I have just knocked off work in Berlin and have nipped around to a Kneipe for a bite. Blut und Leberwurst is on its way . . . so, just a couple of thoughts about the derby.

Firstly, what an atmosphere!! The main block of fans at either end chanting and singing for all they were worth - fantastic!

There were a handful of Union fans in my block who celebrated when they scored (and not when Hertha came back). No hint of trouble that I saw, for all the fireworks before and flares during the match.

Secondly, what a free kick from Ronny! A wonderful strike, he has been such a machine this season - awsome! The noise when he put that in . . . words cannot describe it . . . .

Also, now Hertha have had a run of 19 games unbeaten - Ha Ho He HERTHA BSC!

On Sunday Hertha released via Twitter the squad for the derby against Union. The squad that was anounced is as follows:

Keepers   Kraft. Burchert.
Defenders   Lusti,  Brooks,  Bastians,  Hubnik, Pekarik,  Kobi,  Morales
Midfield    Niemeyer,  Ronny,  Kluge,  Ben-Hatira,  Ndjeng 
Strikers    Ramos, Allagui,  Wagner,  Sahar 

The match ended up being an epic comeback for Hertha who went 2:0 down before grasping honour from the jaws of defeat!

Unions Terodde scored after just 9 minutes which was a bit of a shock! We put a few chances together but threw too many of them away and went in At half time at 0:1. I was kind of hoping that Luhukay would give a stirring team talk that would inspire the team to come out fighting but, just four minutes into the second half . . Nemis scored again for Union whilst surrounded by three Hertha players! Thomas Kraft was not very happy.  This was not the plan at all and everyone went very quiet for a few minutes . . But the Hertha crowd, the Ostkurve in particular, came back and were singing and chanting like there was no tomorrow!

Hertha fought back and Ramos gave us a lifeline on the 73rd minute. Ronny, who else made it 2:2 with just four minutes to spare - awesome!

Photos and videos to follow when I get off this train ha ha ha!

 A couple of clips that I took with my phone before the match showing the crowd and just a small taste of the atmosphere that you never really get from watching it on TV. 

People tweeted to me at the time when I commented about the noise that you just couldn't hear it on German TV that night.  Yet other commented on the noise from the Eiseners on TV - not sure what was going on there and why it appeared they couldn't hear the home fans . .

Here we're are and it is the long awaited derby weekend where Hertha BSC will meet Union Berlin at the magnificent Olympiastadion. What kind of English Hertha blog would this be if I didn't say something!

If you just look at the numbers Hertha look strong. Ten points clear of the K'lautern in the playoff spot and only two points behind Braunschweig at the top. The old lady is a huge fifteen points ahead off Union who are back in fourth place and a goal difference five times greater that that of Union at +25.

Both teams however, are on a bit of a high. Hertha are unbeaten in the last 18 and have won he last four matches. Union have been developing well recently and have won four out of the last five games and only narrowly lost the leaders Braunschweig in the last game of the Hinrunde.

I arrived back in Berlin on Friday. I meant to go earlier to make I longer weekend if it but fate decided otherwise. But, any trip to Berlin is a good trip to Berlin and this should be a great one! When I arrived I found the final score at Braunschweig to be 1:1 against Aalen. A great result for Hertha as a win on Monday would put us top of the table on GD. But, and that is a very big but, there is 90 minutes of football between now and that win. Needless to say there are so many pesky little things like Union goals that might get in the way!

Later on Friday night Kaiserlautern went to town against Dynamo Dresden and romped home with a 3:0 win closing the gap on Hertha, until Monday, to just 7 points. 

Then tension is building, still worried but ever hopeful  - Ha Ho He  HERTHA  BSC!

The starting lineup for Hertha against Union Berlin on the 11th has been affected in two ways by the Regensburg match it appears.

Fabian Holland picked up a fifth yellow during the match so he will be suspended for the derby match.

Secondly Peer Kluge picked up an injury to his right ankle on Sunday so he'll out for 7 to 10 days according to team doctor.

The pair may be replaced by Kobiashvili (Kluge) and Bastians (for Holland) but only Jos Luhukay can answer that for sure. We will have to wait and see I guess!

A little worrying that Kobi has not played this season - he will be rusty for sure.

I am not sure about Peter Niemeyer and whether he will be able to return. If not he will be sorely missed, he puts so much into the midfield - a key player. All well and good missing the match against Regensburg but in a more important match . . . I hope he recovers quickly.

But, having said all this, Hertha have a lot of momentum behind them now so they can fight through as a team I'm sure.

The old lady has Ronny on her side - the with eleven goals this season so far he is the second top scorer after Demi Kumbela of Braunschweig. Ronny is certainly on top form at the moment with Goal,com reporting interest in him from far afield including Corinthians Sao Paulo. It would be a very sad loss if he were to leave in the summer.

Looking ahead BZ reported on Tuesday that the Olympiastadion is sold out for the derby match on Monday with an expected 74,244 fans being there to see the game. The atomosphere should be great!

I caught most of the match and it was very much a game of two halves.  In the first half it remained 0:0 with both sides being fairly uninspiring.  The starting 11 were shown here -

I am not sure what Jos Luhukay said at half time but I think it worked! Six goals in the second 45 minutes, five of them for Hertha made an interesting half.

There were goals from:

 1.  -  Ramos headed in on the 52th minute
 2.  -  Ronny in the 56th from, to be fair, what was a fairly soft penalty when Kluge was "brought down" / obstructed in the box.
 3.  -  Sandro Wagner headed one in on the 68th minute
 4. -  Ronny again in the 85th
 5. -  Marvin Knoll, with one bouncing in off his leg in the 90th minute - just to finish it all off!

Two goals and two assists from Ronny in this match.  Ronny has really "been the man" recently - eleven goals so far this season.  What a star he has been! 
Hertha can go into the derby match against Union Berlin with their heads held high and brimming with confidence.  I an just so looking forward to it!