2. Bundesliga: Hannover victorious after five-goal thriller at the Olympiastadion

Hannover secured a dramatic 3-2 victory over Hertha BSC at the Olympiastadion, with substitute Noah Weißhaupt’s second-half strike ultimately proving decisive in an enthralling contest.

Weißhaupt’s 71st-minute finish restored Hannover’s two-goal cushion and stood up as the winner, despite a late scare when Julian Eitschberger pulled one back deep into stoppage time. The result cements Hannover’s position firmly within the promotion-chasing pack.

Facing a Hertha side coming off 120 gruelling minutes in midweek cup action, Hannover started with real intent and struck after just eight minutes. Enzo Leopold’s deep free kick drifted all the way to the back post, where Luca Schuler had peeled away from Boris Tomiak to volley home from close range beyond Tjark Ernst.

The visitors doubled their advantage before the half-hour mark through leading scorer Benjamin Källman. Daisuke Yokota combined neatly with Noel Aseko-Nkili before pulling the ball back into the centre, where Källman kept his composure to finish clinically past Ernst and give Hannover a commanding 2-0 lead at the break.

Hertha were handed a route back into the contest seven minutes after the restart when they were awarded a penalty. Captain Fabian Reese stepped up and confidently dispatched his effort into the bottom-left corner to spark hopes of a comeback.

Yet despite reducing the deficit, the hosts struggled to sustain pressure, their midweek exertions evident as Hannover continued to dictate the tempo. The visitors regained breathing space in the 71st minute. Slick work out wide once again saw Aseko-Nkili square across the box, and substitute Weißhaupt guided his finish beyond Ernst to make it 3-1.

To their credit, Hertha rallied late on and began to throw bodies forward. Their persistence paid off in the second minute of added time when Eitschberger fired home to set up a tense finale with five minutes of stoppage time indicated.

However, Hannover held firm. As Hertha launched one final push, Nahuel Noll produced a crucial save from a late header following a free kick to preserve the lead and seal all three points.

It marks a statement victory on the road for Christian Titz’s side, their fourth consecutive win lifting them to second in the table. For Hertha, the physical toll of their cup exploits appeared to tell, as the momentum from last week’s win in Elversberg evaporated. They remain sixth and miss the chance to close the gap on the teams above them.