Schick was burning again, but he also got a goal. Hložek also came on, but Leverkusen didn’t win. How did the Czech duo do in the draw with Hertha?

Bayer Leverkusen are having a disastrous start to the season and after another loss in Bruges this week, they were looking to start their recovery in the league. Hertha Berlin seemed like the ideal opponent. But the opposite was true. Both Adam Hložek and Patrik Schick started in the starting lineup.

Hertha already knows it. Last season they had a lot to do to stay up. It doesn’t look much better this season. But now Leverkusen is also in this situation, and with one exception before the game in Berlin, they lost everywhere they could.

We are still waiting to see when Bayer will catch up. Hertha could be the right opponent. But it was Germany’s oldest football club that was the better team in the match. Especially if you count the shooting attempts.

The first half was scoreless, with Schick and Hložek wasting their chances

The Czech-Moravian duo of Patrik Schick and Adam Hložek appeared in the starting line-up. Both had their chances in the first half, but Schick did not aim well enough to beat goalkeeper Oliver Christensen with his head in the 11th minute, and Hložek did the same 15 minutes later, shooting with his left foot.

Both could have been better placed and in both cases they were very good positions.

In the 36th minute, both could have rejoiced when Lukas Hradecky failed to reach a centre that was heading into his own net, only for Lukebakio to hit the bar of the Leverkusen goal. With the score 0:0, it was off to the dressing rooms.

The second half ended in a shootout, with Schick scoring. Should Hertha have taken a penalty?

Second half? That was a different spectacle. In the 49th minute, Kerim Demirbay sent Leverkusen into the lead with a great shot from a direct kick. Six minutes later, however, the game was level, as Serdar finished off a beautiful counter-attack.

Schick was able to restore Bayer’s lead in the 62nd minute, working the ball superbly to get past a defender. However, he failed in a face-off with the goalkeeper and missed the goal by inches. Four minutes later, Hložek went off the field.

In the 74th minute, Hertha took the lead. Tragically, Leverkusen played a free kick, which allowed the ball to reach Marc Richter in the middle. The latter had enough space to shoot from outside the box and Bayer might have regretted it.

Six minutes later, however, Patrik Schick finally scored. After a pass from a teammate, he finished into an almost uncovered net. But he was a bit lucky. He didn’t aim well and the ball went between the goalkeeper’s legs.

Leverkusen were also very lucky in the 82nd minute. Hertha had a series of chances and one of the shots that went into the net was blocked by a Bayer defender with a hand that was definitely not near his body. There was immediate talk of a scandal in Germany, with the suggestion that a red card should have been given and Hertha should have had a penalty kick, only it wasn’t.

Then in stoppage time, Schick could have sent Leverkusen into the lead, but his shot was blocked by one of the defenders in a great chance.

How did Hložek and Schick do?

Patrik Schick played the whole game, Adam Hložek did not, he left the field in the 66th minute. They both got on the scoresheet, Schick several times. Until Schick scored, Hložek could enjoy a better mark from the prestigious statistical server, who got a 6.5 mark, while Schick had a 6.2 mark until the goal. Hložek also scored a key pass.

The goal, however, saved Schick. In the end, he finished the game with a 7.1 rating. Both Schick and Hložek were among Leverkusen’s better players. Both were rated in Bayer’s top six.

Source: Bundesliga, WhoScored