What the papers say: 'Tough football fare'

The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger attributes a very big drop-off in performance after a useful start to Bayer 04: "After efforts from Moussa Diaby and Alario (9'/18'), which the Hertha keeper Rune Jarstein was able to save without any major effort, the Leverkusen attacking game faltered to a great extent. The Berliners, set up defensively by Jürgen Klinsmann and looking to play on the break, recognised their chance and launched counter-attacks. Javairo Dilrosun hit a shot just wide of the right-hand post on 21 minutes and, shortly after that, Lukas Hradecky, Leverkusen's only player in normal form, made a great save to deny Davie Selke. Bayer 04 increasingly lost their way with square balls that served to increase the possession rate. When it came to a more direct approach, the ball was mostly gone."

The Süddeutsche Zeitung summed up the very disagreeable events at the BayArena from a Werkself perspective in the headline: "Tough football fair." The report continues: "There were four added minutes at the BayArena and time passed as slowly as in the previous 90 minutes and, when the final whistle was blown, the winners refrained from showing their joy and relief.… This football match gave rise to the basic question: Did the winners of a game like that actually deserve three points while, for example, Dortmund and Leipzig only picked up one each the day before for their 3-3 draw?"

'No penetration'

The Kicker summed up the unfortunate situation for Leverkusen as follows: "With Bayer, a comeback in the autumn with wins in Munich and against Schalke has tailed off. Penetration and creativity? No chance. 'Goals can only be scored if we create chances. It was very poor again today,' was the analysis of defender Sven Bender. ' It's a major point that's making life difficult for us at the moment. It was the crucial point today."

The Bild-Zeitung reports: "The reunion of the World Cup winning chums ended with just one person smiling: Hertha coach Jürgen Klinsmann (55) celebrated his second win with Berlin – 1-0 at Leverkusen. Up in the stands, Bayer sporting boss Rudi Völler (59) could only shake his head in horror. … In his clash with his World Cup mate Völler, Klinsi fielded Plattenhardt as the Hertha captain. And he had a lot to do straightaway in the Berlin defence. Leverkusen clearly set out to make amends. Diaby forced goalkeeper Jarstein to make the first save from a long-distance effort on nine minutes. Shortly after that, Alario missed from a tight angle. After the restart, Alario threw away the chance to give Leverkusen the lead! He put the ball past the target without any pressure from opponents (48'). That was symptomatic for the Werkself on the night. The derby knockout has clearly had after-effects. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain the many misunderstandings and misplaced passes against the modest Berliners…"

'Had a tough time of it'

The Rheinische Post saw a "Werkself devoid of ideas". The report continues: "Bayer took control early on, moved the ball around well and had the first good chance from the eye-catching Frenchman Moussa Diaby (9'). However, both with the attempt from the winger as with the shot from Lucas Alario, the Hertha keeper Rune Jarstein was unruffled (18').… Over the course of the rest the first half, the match levelled out at a very meagre level. A lot of easy misplaced passes on both sides spoiled the flow the game in front of just 24,472 spectators at the BayArena. After half-time, they saw a very committed Bayer team that just too often lacked precision. While the visitors waited to play on the break, Alario and his fellow strikers had a tough time of it against the Berlin defence."