Headaches

By: Abby | December 3rd, 2007

Perhaps I shouldn’t have metaphorically thrown away that aspirin after all.

Bayer Leverkusen came to the Olympiastadion on Saturday and left with three points, as well as three goals. By most accounts, it was entirely Leverkusen’s game. Arne Freidrich had a great chance in the 2nd minute when he found himself one on one with René Adler, but he didn’t even give Adler a chance to save, shooting straight at him instead.

The first goal was, of course, scored by an ex-Hertha player, veteran Carsten Ramelow. Granted, the Berlin-born Ramelow hadn’t played at Hertha since 1995, but that still hurts. Marko Pantelic’s clearance from a free-kick fell straight to him, right outside the box, and he drove it right into the net.

Hertha had a few half-chances after that, entirely from Marko Pantelic. Manuel Friedrich’s last-ditch tackle took the ball away from him when he would have scored from close range, a long-range shot went wide. Bayer went in at the break 1-0 up, deservedly by all accounts.

They took the second goal after 50 minutes, fine work by Barbarez and Freier weaving through the Hertha defense, making it easy for young Swiss Tranquillo Barnetta to score from close range. It was starting to look pretty easy for the visitors, although Hertha didn’t give up. Marko had another shot turned away by Adler and actually managed to get the ball into the net on 70 minutes, but had the goal called back. It wasn’t our night, clearly. One of our returning Brazilians, Gilberto, fluffed another chance, before Barbarez sealed an easy away win for Leverkusen at the 90th minute.

Lucien Favre said that there were “too many blackouts” and that we gave Leverkusen too much respect. Entirely possible- they’re a good, threatening side and are now up to 4th thanks to us. He also said our problem was switching from defense to attack and he will deliver a “clear and efficient analysis” in the break period. Good luck, Lulu.

The rest of the news isn’t much better. Patrick Ebert’s groin injury is now mostly forgotten as he went off at halftime with a knee injury. Now he’ll be out for a month. Joy.
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Here’s the highlights. In Spanish, I believe.
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