KAMADA RESCUES TEN-MAN EAGLES

Hoffenheim needed only seven minutes to go in front. They won the ball on the edge of their own area, broke at speed down the right and switched it early to Alexander Prass, who had sprinted clear from his own half. His low, first-time shot was hard enough that Dean Henderson could only take the sting out of it, and it rolled over the line.

“I think it could be better if we score before but I know too that Dean Henderson kept us in the game with his saves. I like the energy of the team and to never give up until the end. This goal came at a good moment. We maybe had a last chance to win the game.” – Pierre Sage, Crystal Palace manager, speaking to TNT Sports, via BBC Sport

“For sure we want to take less cards because we need all the players for all the competition. Today, with the energy and the fight, I think we were in a situation to take the risk of some cards. Now we just have to understand that we don't have to be in this situation by managing our game in a better way from the beginning.” – Pierre Sage, Crystal Palace manager, speaking to TNT Sports, via BBC Sport

“My first chance I had to score and then my goal was just a little bit lucky. We are not satisfied about the result so we need to keep working hard and we have to improve a lot.” – Daichi Kamada, Crystal Palace midfielder, speaking to TNT Sports, via BBC Sport

Kamada thought he had answered soon after, but he was well offside, and the Germans took their lead into the break. Pierre Sage had called this "the start of a new way" before kick-off, after leaving Axel Disasi out of the squad without explanation, but his side spent long spells chasing.

Sage rang the changes in the second half, sending on Oscar Mingueza and Eddie Nketiah, then Dario Osorio and Dwight McNeil in place of Jean-Philippe Mateta and Honest Ahanor. Within two minutes it got worse. Adam Wharton, already booked, was shown a second yellow on 76 minutes for a foul on Wouter Burger, a harsh call by the Romanian referee Horatiu Fesnic.

Hoffenheim might have finished with ten themselves when Andrej Kramaric, also on a yellow, used an arm to control the ball and got away with it. Osorio tested Oliver Baumann from distance, and in the first minute of added time the Eagles finally found a way through. A deep cross from the right was headed back across the area, and Kamada's first-time shot took a deflection past Baumann.

It was not pretty, and Hoffenheim were the better side for long spells, but after two straight league defeats Palace have something to cling to.