Köln and Bayer Leverkusen coaches get into heated exchange over dry pitch following Bundesliga match
Köln and Bayer Leverkusen coaches get into heated exchange over dry pitch following Bundesliga match Bayer 04 Leverkusen head coach Kasper Hjulmand remained critical of his own team and the local groundskeeper following his team’s Bundesliga victory over regional rivals Köln. Leverkusen’s 1-2 away win over their Westphalian neighbors certainly helped their Champions League prospects. Hjulmand’s Werkself can nevertheless count themselves lucky to have taken all three points on Saturday afternoon.
There was a most interesting moment at the post-match press conference during which Hjulmand made a slight excuse for his team’s languid early start to the match. As Hjulmand slipped in a reference to the condition of the Kölner pitch in his basic German, Köln head coach René Wagner – fluent in English thanks to his professional career in the United States – hopped in to challenge his counterpart. Köln outplayed Bayer Leverkusen The cathedral city hosts bested their guests in the xG battle (2.
64 to 1. 33). This stat maintains some significance as Leverkusen scored their opening goal via a controversial handball penalty kick.
When one subtracts the 0. 75 xG associated with the spot kick that enabled Schick to net the 0-1 in the 43rd-minute, Hjulmand’s team were genuinely awful at creating scoring chances. In his opening statement at the post match press conference, Hjulmand referenced the Bundesliga record his team set last weekend in the league loss against Augsburg.
Leverkusen produced 36 shots on target in their 1-2 home defeat. No German top flight club has ever recorded so many efforts during a match in which they failed to take any points. Hjulmand speaks on ‘crazy football’ “ This was a difficult game; the third difficult game in a row, ” Hjulmand began, referencing both the Augsburg loss and the midweek Pokal defeat against Bayern Munich.