Result: Fortuna Dusseldorf 3-3 Hertha Berlin
Date: 28 February 2020
Venue: Merkur Spiel-Arena
Hertha Berlin came back from three goals down to force a 3-3 draw with Fortuna Dusseldorf in a thrilling Bundesliga encounter on Friday night.
Fortuna manager Uwe Rosler kept the same side that got him his first win charge away at Freiburg while Hertha new manager Alexander Nouri made wholesale changes, with only Krzysztof Piatek, Matheus Cunha, Dedryck Boyata and Karim Rekik keeping their places.
Rosler's charges got off to a flying start after Kenan Karaman broke the deadlock in just the sixth minute of the match with a close-range strike from Kevin Stoger's lofted through ball.
Fortuna were two goals up three minutes later after Erik Thommy drilled home a superb strike from the left side of the box that found the bottom corner after he was setup by Matthias Zimmermann.
The visitors were pilled on the pressure on Fortuna after that but they were only restricted to long range strikes which were smothered by shot-stopper Florian Kastermeier.
Rosler's men were a threat on counter-attacks and eventually bagged the third goal on the stroke of halftime after Karaman slotted a shot from close range to complete his brace after he as teed up by Zimmermann.
Hertha were fired up in the early stages of the second stanza and started the comeback in the 64th minute courtesy of an own goal by Thommy.
Mattheus Cunha pulled another goal back for Nouri's troops four minutes later with a well placed shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner after spotting Kastermeier off his line.
With 15 minutes remaining in the contest, Hertha were awarded a penalty after chaos inside the box. January acquisition Piatek stepped up and converted the spot-kick for his first Bundesliga goal as parity was restored.
Second-half substitute Opoku Ampomah found the back of the net for the hosts in the last eight minutes but his goal was disallowed for offside.
In the end, the sides settled for a share of the spoils as Fortuna remain in 16th spot while Hertha climbed up to 13th on the log.
