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Goalscorer Exequiel Palacios in a duel with Bayern's Thomas Müller

Photo: ANGELIKA WARMUTH / REUTERS

It was the top game of the evening: the two teams at the top of the table, FC Bayern and Bayer Leverkusen, competed against each other in the Allianz Arena. It was a spectacular game, the teams went into the break with a 1-1 draw, only to turn up the heat again afterwards. After all, it was all about displacing Leverkusen from the top of the table for Bayern. A few minutes before the end, it seemed as if this could be achieved after Bayern's Leon Goretzka scored a goal in the 86th minute.

This result was announced by presenter Hanna Zimmermann in ZDF's »heute Journal«: »In the men's Bundesliga, the two clubs were at the top of the table today. FC Bayern Munich played against Bayer Leverkusen and won 2-1."

However, this announcement did not correspond to the actual result. At the end of regular time, five minutes of extra time were announced – and that was enough for Bayer Leverkusen to equalise just before the game. In the 93rd minute of the game, the referee decided on a penalty kick for Leverkusen, which Exequiel Palacios successfully converted into a goal a minute later, read here in the minute log.

A short time later, sports reporter Florian Reis posted the excerpt in question from the "heute Journal" on X, which used to be called Twitter. His comment: "Ouch". The comments of those who watched the short post on the social network took the mistake of ZDF partly with humor, but partly also seriously. While some jokingly congratulated HSV on their promotion or joked: "You count better with the second! «, others get upset about the GEZ fees or even rail against »lying press«.

Meanwhile, ZDF has put Friday evening's report on its website for later viewing, including the accidentally announced Bayern victory. Meanwhile, in its sports section, the broadcaster correctly reported Bayer Leverkusen's late draw. The show's Twitter account did not comment on the faux pas until Saturday morning. It is not yet clear how the error occurred.

Mak