Hertha BSC remains a welcome guest in the Bundesliga and does not get off the ground due to its away weakness in the relegation battle. After last two home wins, the Berliners conceded by the 1:4 (0:2) at Bayer Leverkusen the seventh away defeat in a row. 14th place after 23 matchdays is deceptive for coach Sandro Schwarz's team, as Hertha has only one point ahead of VfL Bochum, last in the table. And the two teams placed directly behind her also have a better goal difference.

Leverkusen, on the other hand, impressively showed that they have not yet ticked off the fight for Europe despite the completely messed up first third of the season. With one of the best performances under coach Xabi Alonso, the Werkself also put down a successful dress rehearsal for the first leg of the Europa League round of sixteen on Thursday (18:45 in the F.A.Z. live ticker for the Europa League and RTL+) against Ferencvaros Budapest.

Striker Sardar Azmoun (12th), who had scored his redemptive first goal of the season in the 1-1 draw in Freiburg the previous week, gave Bayer the lead. The initially outstanding Jeremie Frimpong, who had prepared the 1:0, quickly followed (21.). However, his substitution after just under half an hour due to a muscle injury in his right thigh was the downer in the Leverkusen victory, which Moussa Diaby (60th) and the recently substituted Amine Adli (73rd) finally secured. Hertha's follow-up goal by Dodi Lukebakio (67th, foul penalty) did not turn things around.

Leverkusen rewarded early

Bayer was present and active right from the start – and was rewarded early on. Once again, it was the high-speed duo on the right that initiated the victory. First, Moussa Diaby served Frimpong, and Azmoun took advantage of his deposit from the baseline from six yards. Marco Richter knocked the ball away only about half a meter behind the line, as not only the goal-line technique, but also TV pictures clearly proved. However, Hertha almost hit back quickly when Richter slipped the ball past the long post with his left after a strong lateral shift by Suat Serdar (14th).

But apart from this excitement, Bayer had everything under control. Azmoun's quick double prevented Hertha keeper Oliver Christensen with a good reflex (17th) – and then Frimpong and Diaby switched on the turbo again: Diaby simply left Filip Uremovic standing, put back on his congenial partner, who scored from ten meters. This time Richter was actually two meters in front of the line as a backup, but stumbled into the goal with the ball. After Frimpong's substitution shortly afterwards, the game lost momentum until the break.

The second half started with a little delay, as a hole in the Leverkusen goal net had to be patched provisionally. But the action continued to take place mostly in front of the other goal. Christensen slowly but surely became the best Berliner. Against Diaby (55th) and Piero Hincapié (60th) he held well. A few seconds later he had no chance against Diaby after a great pass from the ever-stronger Florian Wirtz. A foul by Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who came on as a substitute for Frimpong, against Hertha captain Marvin Plattenhardt gave Hertha a glimmer of hope through Lukebakio's penalty goal.