Leckie and Kalou fire Hertha Berlin past Bayer Leverkusen

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Hertha Berlin maintained their unbeaten home run in this season’s Bundesliga by inflicting a third loss of the campaign on Bayer Leverkusen, Die Werkself going down 2-1 through first-half goals from Mathew Leckie and Salomon Kalou.

Hertha Berlin 2-1 Leverkusen

Goals: 1-0 Leckie 16', 2-0: Kalou 24' 2-1: Brandt 85'

The hosts enjoyed the perfect start to this encounter, Australian forward Leckie notching up his fourth goal in five Bundesliga outings for the Old Lady since his summer switch from Ingolstadt. Cutting inside Chilean Charles Aranguiz superbly, Leckie subsequently let fly into the far corner, leaving visiting goalkeeper Bernd Leno with no chance. Things got even sweeter for Hertha shortly after, with Kalou heading in his first of the campaign following some superb work by Vedad Ibisevic.

Watch: Leckie - I didn't expect to hit it so well! 

Leverkusen - 4-0 winners against Freiburg last time out - rallied after the restart but they had to wait until the 84th minute to reduce the deficit, with Julian Brandt’s deflected effort setting up a frantic finale at the Olympiastadion. Pal Dardai’s side held on, however, with the capital club picking up a valuable three points and Leverkusen left to lick their wounds ahead of a Matchday 6 encounter at home to Hamburg.  

Man of the match

Who can argue with Leckie’s sensational start to life at Hertha, with another goal for the Australian setting Hertha on their way. And the Aussie not only scored, he put in a huge shift in the capital, clocking 79 intensive runs and managing 48 touches as Hertha collected maximum returns from this one.

Line-ups

Hertha: Jarstain - Weiser, Stark, Rekik, Plattenhardt - Darida, Skjelbred - Leckie, Duda, Kalou - Ibisevic (c)
Coach: Pal Dardai

Leverkusen: Leno - L. Bender (c), Retsos, S. Bender, Wendell - Kohr, Aranguiz - Bellarabi, Brandt, Havertz - Volland
Coach: Heiko Herrlich

Match stats

    This was only Bayer's second loss in their last 13 matches against Hertha.Hertha have not scored more than twice in a game since December 2016.Leverkusen failed to score for the first time this season. Die Werkself's five games this season have nonetheless produced 18 goals.

Click here for the Hertha vs. Leverkusen Match Centre