What the papers say: 'Focused Hertha stand firm'

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung sums up the serious efforts of the two sides as follows: "Both teams invested a lot of effort, there was conscientious and discipline work but neither of the two sides showed joy and inspiration on this cold first Sunday in Advent." The report looks at the serious personal problems for the Werkself: "In addition to the tiredness after the Thursday night game in the Europa League, the large number of players sidelined was a reason for Leverkusen's problems. Coach Peter Bosz was missing nine players with three (Bellarabi, Amiri and Alario) added shortly after the 4-1 win against Hapoel Be'er Sheva. Therefore, it was no longer possible to field a full squad. 'We're on our uppers,' said Bosz. The opportunity of taking a talented youngster from the U19s was not possible because that would have increased the risk of infection."

"Everybody briefly held their breath"

The Süddeutsche Zeitung describes the moment just before the final whistle when a goal would have provided a happy ending for Leverkusen: "It almost happened. It was in injury time when Kerem Demirbay hit a free kick into the penalty area and Lars Bender headed the ball from a melee. Everybody briefly held their breath – and then the ball flew past the post. A goal would not have made the match a better watch in retrospect but would have prevented the most stingy of all results. So, the game ended goalless. No player was desperately disappointed: Bayer remain unbeaten in the league and Hertha get a result at a strong opponent."

The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger observes that Bayer 04 fought passionately for victory: "The question emerged of whether concentration and strength would fade for the Leverkusen team burdened by European football in temperatures around freezing at the BayArena – particularly with options unavailable on the bench. The Werkself provided the answer when they raised the tempo again in the middle of the second half. That was certainly impressive…"

The Kicker comes to the following conclusion in their match report: "At the end of the day a fitting 0-0 performance. Focused Hertha were not to be broken down by the superior Leverkusen side. Therefore they deserved the point against the dominant hosts."

"Inches wide"

The assessment in the Bild Zeitung: "Still unbeaten – but nothing came of moving up into second place. Bayer Leverkusen stay third after the home goalless draw against Hertha. In his 250th Bundesliga game, Lars Bender was inches wide of heading a winner in added time. A disappointing match – but there was probably not much more to expect given the Leverkusen injury situation."

"Bayer 04 can live with the 0-0," was the headline in the Rheinische Post. The strong defensive performance of the Berliners is mentioned in the report: "Hertha’s back four was solid with the two central defenders Dedryck Boyata and Fernandez Alderete basically clearing out everything that moved in and around the Hertha goal. Bayer missed the opportunity to become the number one team chasing Bayern but they remain unbeaten in the league in third place."

The Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel emphasises the priority for the Hertha on the day in its headline: "Defence pays off." The report continues: "On 88 minutes, the really unexciting game did have one new occurrence. There was the first corner for Hertha. Marvin Plattenhardt took it, curling the ball into the middle and finding an unmarked Leverkusen player. That was again familiar on this afternoon. Neither Bayer Leverkusen nor Hertha posed a real threat in attack. The 0-0 scoreline in a really erratic game from both sides was therefore the only logical result.… Hertha did not have another single shot on goal until added time, until a header from substitute Ngankam. Their priorities on this afternoon were clearly different."