Hoffenheim cruch Hertha 5-1

Match report:

It was a fitting return to goalscoring form from Bosnian striker Vedad Ibisevic, who finished off a superb flowing move with an emphatic volley to put the hosts up within the first minute. Just a couple of minutes later and Ibisevic grabbed his and Hoffenheim's second, powering home a header into the top corner following a Carlos Eduardo corner from the left.

With almost a quarter of the match gone, the Bosnian star became the second-fastest hat-trick scorer in Bundesliga history when he arrived on cue to head home an Andreas Beck cut-back from the by line and set Ralf Rangnick's side well on their way to a deserved three points.

Raffael scored a cleverly-taken free kick just before referee Peter Sippel blew for half time, but it did little to halt the Hoffenheim freight train in the second half as Chinedu Obasi fired in a fourth shortly before the hour mark and Carlos Eduardo got himself on the scoresheet just five minutes later from the spot.

Ibisevic was replaced by Brazilian schemer Maicosuel midway through the second half and the Bosnian star received a standing ovation from the 29,600-strong Rhein-Neckar crowd. It was a touching moment for the Bosnian, who so cruelly missed out on the second half of last season with a career-threatening cruciate ligament injury.

The three points sends Hoffenheim into third spot in the table and the squad be keen to continue their excellent Bundesliga form away at Mainz 05 next Saturday.

Match quotes:

Vedad Ibisevic
We played very well. The three goals came really quickly and I'm really pleased to have scored them. We wanted to put them under pressure from the off and I knew that I would start scoring again at some point. I think the new boots I wore today must be lucky!

Sejad Salihovic
We worked hard for the victory today. Now we need to continue playing like that and stay focussed on the match against Mainz.

Hertha team
The Hertha players declined to comment following their defeat.

Christian Eichner
It wasn't easy to play like that against Hertha. We wanted to put them under pressure from the start, that was our plan. We're delighted with the win and now it's full concentration ahead of the Mainz match. Timo (Hildebrand) was the only player in the squad keeping an eye on the election results today. I can live with the election result myself.

Ralf Rangnick
I don't think it's possible to start a game any better than we did today. I said to the lads once we were two up that we had to stay completely focussed and they did a great job. We performed throughout the match, but now it's time to concentrate on next Saturday's match against Mainz. They haven't lost at home yet and we want to change that. Of course for 'Vedo' it's a dream come true to score a great hat-trick like that. Simunic picked up a bit of a calf strain, so we didn't want to take any risks with him.

Lucien Favre
It's very easy to analyse a game like that. It was impossible for us to come back from a 3-0 deficit after just 21 minutes. I don't want to talk about the match any more. It was silent in the dressing room, there was simply nothing to say.

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