Hoffenheim punish Hertha Berlin

Hoffenheim punish Hertha Berlin

A Vedad Ibisevic hat-trick inspired Hoffenheim to a comfortable 5-1 win over Hertha Berlin which took Ralf Rangnick's side up to third in the Bundesliga and heaped further pressure on his opposite number Lucien Favre.

The Berlin boss led the capital club to fourth last term, but following Ibisevic's first goals of the season in the first, fourth and 21st minutes Favre finds his club bottom of the Bundesliga.

Raffael did pull a goal back for Berlin in first-half stoppage time, but further goals from Chinedu Obasi and Carlos Eduardo either side of the hour mark completed the rout which will probably seal the end of Favre's reign in charge of Berlin after their sixth straight defeat.

Ibisevic was the hero of Hoffenheim's sensational start to last season when his 18 goals in the first 17 games of the season took the league's newcomers to the top of the table at the midway stage of the campaign.

However, he tore cruciate knee ligaments during the winter break and missed the rest of the season.

That injury appeared to have left a mental scar on the Bosnian striker, but he got over that with a hat-trick in the space of 21 minutes to put the result beyond doubt before the midway stage of the first half.

He had the ball in the back of the net within 60 seconds, putting the finish to a fine team move which involved Sejad Salihovic and Obasi.

A huge weight appeared to be lifted from the 25-year-old, who added his second three minutes later.

He headed Carlos Eduardo's corner past Timo Ochs to put Hoffenheim in command of the game.

Obasi hit the post before Ibisevic completed his hat-trick in stunning fashion.

Again, it was an excellent team move with Carlos Eduardo switching play to the left where Salihovic volleyed to Andreas Beck, who laid the ball off for Ibisevic to head in.

Berlin tried to react and they reduced the arrears in first-half stoppage time when Raffael's direct free-kick left Timo Hildebrand no chance as it went in off the inside of the post.

It was only a momentary respite for Favre's forlorn troops.

Obasi added a fourth just shy of the hour mark as Berlin failed to clear their lines and Carlos Eduardo completed the scoring with a penalty minutes later after Ibisevic had been brought down inside the area by Marc Stein.