Hertha BSC remains a welcome guest in the Bundesliga and is stuck in the relegation battle due to its weakness away from home. After the last two home wins, the Berliners conceded their seventh away defeat in a row with a 1:4 (0:2) at Bayer Leverkusen. 14th place after 23 match days is deceptive for coach Sandro Schwarz’s team, as Hertha is only one point ahead of bottom-placed VfL Bochum. And the two teams directly behind her also have a better goal difference.
Leverkusen, on the other hand, showed impressively that the fight for Europe has not yet come to an end, despite the completely screwed up first third of the season. With one of the best performances under coach Xabi Alonso, the Werkself put in a successful dress rehearsal for the round of 16 first leg of the Europa League on Thursday (6.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Europa League and on RTL+) against Ferencvaros Budapest.
Striker Sardar Azmoun (12th), who scored his redeeming first goal of the season in the 1-1 draw in Freiburg last week, gave Bayer the lead. The initially outstanding Jeremie Frimpong, who had prepared the 1-0, quickly followed up (21st). However, his substitution after almost half an hour due to a muscle injury in his right thigh was the downer in Leverkusen’s victory, which Moussa Diaby (60′) and Amine Adli (73′, who had just come on as a substitute) finally secured. Hertha’s goal through Dodi Lukebakio’s tenth goal of the season (67′, penalty kick) was no longer the turning point.
Leverkusen is rewarded early
Bayer was present and active from the start – and was rewarded for it early on. Once again, it was the high-speed duo on the right that initiated the win. First, Moussa served Diaby Frimpong, and Azmoun used his layoff from the baseline from six yards out. Marco Richter only hit the ball about half a meter behind the line, as not only the goal-line technology but also TV pictures clearly showed. However, Hertha almost hit back when Richter flicked the ball past the far post with his left after a strong lateral movement from Suat Serdar (14′).
But except for this excitement, Bayer had everything under control. Azmoun’s fast brace prevented Hertha keeper Oliver Christensen with a good reflex (17th) – and then Frimpong and Diaby switched on the turbo again: Diaby simply let Filip Uremovic stand and put it back to his ideal partner, who scored from ten meters. This time Richter was actually two meters from the line to protect himself, but he stumbled into the goal with the ball. After Frimpong was substituted shortly afterwards, the game lost momentum until the break.
The second half started a bit late because a hole in the Leverkusen goal net had to be temporarily patched. But most of the action continued to take place in front of the other goal. Christensen slowly but surely became the best Berliner. He held well against Diaby (55′) and Piero Hincapié (60′). A few seconds later he had no chance against Diaby after a great pass from Florian Wirtz, who was getting stronger and stronger. A foul by Frimpong substitute Timothy Fosu-Mensah on Hertha captain Marvin Plattenhardt gave Hertha a glimmer of hope through Lukebakio’s penalty goal.
