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Berlin ease 2-0 past Schalke in German Bundesliga

Xinhua, March 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Goals by Vedad Ibisevic and Niklas Stahl secured Berlin the 13th win of the season against uninspired Schalke following the opener of the 26th round in Bundesliga on Friday.

Berlin returned to winning ways after reaping their first victory against Schalke since September 2006 thanks to a dominant display on home soil.

The hosts caught a better start into the match as Vladimir Darida tested Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Faehrmann with a long-range effort in the 9th minute.

Schalke gained a foothold in the game with 21 minutes into the game after Klaas-Jan Huntelaar' s header on target forced Rune Jarstein to make a diving save.

It were however the hosts, who opened the scoring just before the break as Vedad Ibisevic slotted home Genki Haraguchi' s build up play from inside the box in the 42nd minute.

Andre Breitenreiter' s men piled on the pressure after the restart and had the golden chance to restore parity through Dennis Aogo, who missed the target from promising position ten minutes into the second half.

"Hertha" punished Schalke' s wastefulness moments later as youngster Niklas Stahl had all time and space at the near post to head in Vladimir Darida' s corner-kick in the 65th minute.

The "Royal Blues" threw everything up front and got nearly caught flatfooted but Tolga Cigerci wasted two chances to clinch a higher victory.

With the result, Hertha Berlin consolidated their third place in the hunt for the UEFA Champions League berth, meanwhile fourth placed Schalke suffered the ninth loss of the season to have a four point deficit to the top three.

"Compliments to my team. We played against a top club and worked out many opportunities. It was a perfect game for us," Hertha Berlin coach Pal Dardai said.

The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: Monchengladbach host Frankfurt, last placed Hannover face Cologne, Hoffenheim encounter Wolfsburg, newly promoted Ingolstadt clash Stuttgart, newly promoted Darmstadt see Augsburg and Bremen visit front-runners Bayern Munich. Endit