Duesseldorf take Hertha's Bundesliga place

BERLIN (AFP) –

Duesseldorf’s Maximilian Beister celebrates during the Relegation match for Germany’s first division Bundesliga between Fortuna Duesseldorf and Hertha BSC Berlin in the German city of Duesseldorf. Fortuna Duesseldorf secured a place in the Bundesliga and consigned Hertha Berlin to the German second tier after overcoming the side from the capital in their relegation play-off on Tuesday.

Fortuna Duesseldorf secured a place in the Bundesliga and consigned Hertha Berlin to the German second tier after overcoming the side from the capital in their relegation play-off on Tuesday.

Having won 2-1 in Berlin in the first leg, Fortuna secured a 2-2 draw on home turf to return to the German elite for the first time since their relegation in 1996-97.

Fortuna had finished third in the 2. Bundesliga, with Hertha ending their season third-bottom in the top flight.

The second-leg match, which saw nine yellow cards distributed, ended in confusion as hundreds of Fortuna fans stormed the pitch even though there were two minutes of injury time remaining.

After security personnel restored order, Fortuna’s players returned to the pitch but had to wait several minutes for their opponents to appear before they were finally able to finish the match.

Ranisav Jovanovic put Fortuna 2-1 up in the 59th minute, after Maximilian Beister’s quick-fire first-minute opener for the hosts had been cancelled out by Anis Ben-Hatira, who was later sent off.

Raffael equalised with five minutes to play but Fortuna held on.

Hertha return to the second division after just a single season in the elite, alongside fellow relegated sides Cologne and Kaiserslautern.

Greuther Fuerth and Eintracht Frankfurt had already secured promotion from the second tier.