Leverkusen’s Exequiel Palacios celebrates after his penalty to 1-1 against Stuttgart Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
From the BZ editorial team
This penalty goal gives Hertha the very last glimmer of hope in the almost hopeless relegation battle.
Leverkusen’s Palacios converted a penalty kick against VfB goalkeeper Bredlow to make it 1-1. VfB had been in the lead for a long time, and if Stuttgart had won, Hertha would have been almost certainly relegated. But now there is actually a theoretical rescue at the bottom of the table next Saturday in the home game against Bochum.
But who still believes in that? Hertha coach Pal Dardai: “We still have a little hope. But the matter is no longer in our hands. It’s important to stick together.”
His professionals hardly did that at 2: 5 on Friday in Cologne. FC won almost twice as many tackles in the air (33) as Hertha (18), shot 28 times on goal (Hertha only 9 times), crossed 20 times (Hertha 8 times) and ran the Berliners with 235 – literally 215 sprint kilometers away. Dardai: “You won’t get far in the Bundesliga with these values.”
And further: “How can it be that this team hasn’t managed to win twice in a row all season? Sorry, we have huge mentality problems.”