Klinsmann's son saves penalty on Hertha Berlin debut

Hertha Berlin’s Jonathan Klinsmann (right) celebrates with teammate Maximilian Mittelstadt during Thursday's draw. Photo: REUTERS/Axel Schmid

Hertha Berlin’s Jonathan Klinsmann (right) celebrates with teammate Maximilian Mittelstadt during Thursday's draw. Photo: REUTERS/Axel Schmid

Published Dec 8, 2017

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BERLIN - Jonathan Klinsmann, the son of former United States, Bayern Munich and Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann, saved a late penalty on his Hertha Berlin debut to secure a 1-1 draw against visiting Ostersunds FK in the Europa League on Thursday.

The 20-year-old goalkeeper denied Ostersund captain Brwa Nouri from the penalty spot with three minutes remaining.

Klinsmann produced a brilliant fingertip save to stop Sotirios Papagiannopoulos scoring in the first half, but was powerless to prevent the Greek defender from finding the net with the aid of a deflection after the interval.

Peter Pekarik replied almost straight away for Hertha, which was already certain to be eliminated after the group stage of Europe's second-tier competition.

Ostersund finished second in Group J to become the first Swedish side since Helsingborg in 2007 to reach the knockout stages.

Klinsmann, who previously made six appearances for Hertha's under-23 side in the fourth-tier regional league, got his chance with the senior team as regular goalkeeper Rune Jarstein skips the side's international games and his back-up Thomas Kraft was out with a cold.

The 1.94-meter (6-foot-4) tall Klinsmann, a goalkeeper with the United States Under-20 team, was handed his first professional contract after impressing Hertha during a trial in the offseason. He previously played for the University of California.

Hertha coach Pal Dardai also handed a first start to his son Palko, who struck the crossbar with a powerful shot in the first half.

AFP

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