2. Bundesliga Friday Review: Hertha and Nürnberg stay bottom of the league | OneFootball

Hertha Berlin and 1. FC Nürnberg had promotion hopes at the season start, but their struggles continued on Friday as they went into the first international break without a win.

Hertha Berlin 0-2 Elversberg

Younes Ebnoutalib was the hero in his starting debut for Elversberg against Hertha Berlin. The 21-year-old striker opened the scoring in the fifth minute, capitalizing on Márton Dárdai’s unsuccessful attempt to clear the ball.

Ebnoutalib was at the double in the hour mark with a fine finish after a well-worked move by the visitors. Linus Gechter’s sending off for two bookable offenses ended any hopes of a comeback by Hertha.

Stefan Leitl will be in danger of losing his job as the capital city club only have two points after the first four games, while they relied on a penalty shootout to progress into the second round of the DFB-Pokal. Despite losing their coach and key players in the summer, Elversberg collected nine points from the possible twelve.

Nürnberg 0-0 Paderborn

Miroslav Klose’s Nürnberg avoided defeat for the first time this season, but they will stay at the bottom of the standings. Paderborn were the better side throughout the game. The hosts were lucky to avoid a first-half red card when Tim Janisch was saved by a long VAR check.

Paderborn continued to fashion the better chances after the break, but they lacked the cutting edge in the final third. Substitute Sven Michel failed to convert a great chance in the final action of the game.

The visitors collected five points before the first international break. Meanwhile, Nürnberg will need to vastly improve before things escalate at the tradition-laden club.