In Paderborn, at the Energieteam Arena, Hoffenheim came away with a point despite being down to ten men for the last 25 mintues of the match. 

Paderborn started out the game the brighter of the two sides, controlling possession, moving the ball around crisply. As soon as Hoffenheim started to gain momentum, the hosts started to sit back and did not really create any good attacking chances. Eugen Polanski had the first good look at goal, in the seventh minute of the match, but his blast from outside of the box missed to the right of the target. The next chance came seven minutes later for Paderbon, through Michael Henloth, however, Henloth's shot came from a very acute angle and it was hit just a little too high.

The first shot on target did not come until the 27th minute as Kevin Volland's shot from about 25 yards away was stopped excellently by Oliver Baumann. Then moments later, Srdjen Lakic missed on a chance from inside the eighteen yard box on the right side. This was how the first half would go, the two sides would get into good attacking positions, but the final touch was lacking and neither goal keeper was really tested. 

Ermin Bicakcic was living dangerously in the second half going in hard on a couple of tackles and was subsequently booked. Ten minutes later, he was sent off for another dangerous tackle. After that, Paderborn had a little bit of life in them, and it looked like they could go on and push for the winner. Alban Meha sprung to life and came close to finding the breakthrough, but Baumann was superb once more and was able to keep his clean sheet in the end despite his side being down to ten. Süleyman Koc also went close in the 72nd minute from the right side of the box, but the Hoffenheim shot stopper ws up to the challenge.

VAVEL Logo
About the author