Whe thing that happens every year in the relegation between the third from bottom in the first Bundesliga and third in the second division seems to be repeating itself in 2023. The higher-class team prevails.
This time probably also VfB Stuttgart, which in 2019 was the only Bundesliga club in the past ten years to fail in these decisive duels against a second division club, then Union Berlin. After the convincing 3-0 home win over Hamburger SV, VfB are aiming to stay in the league. It seemed unlikely that the Swabians would lose this lead in the second leg in Hamburg on Monday (8.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga, on Sat.1 and Sky) at least on Thursday evening in the Stuttgart Arena.
“It must be a miracle”
The clear course of the game spoke for it, as evidenced by the three goals by Mavropanos (1st), Vagnoman (51st) and Guirassy (54th). In addition, HSV weakened themselves when Suhonen, who had just come on, was sent off after a rude kick against Vagnoman (69′). “We continue to throw everything into the balance to hope for a miracle, but it has to be a miracle,” said HSV sports director Jonas Boldt on Sky with a view to the second leg. “It’s a tough result, but anyone who knows us knows we’ll keep going. We believe in ourselves,” said goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes: “It’s all useless, anything is possible in football.”
The overarching question was who would be able to cope with the pressure of this duel. The favorites from Stuttgart, who have been relatively stable in the Bundesliga under their third coach of the season, Sebastian Hoeneß, or the challengers from Hamburg, who scored the most goals in the second division with seventy goals this season. The first answer to that came lightning fast. After just 44 seconds, the Swabians had set a signal. After Sosa’s first corner kick, the edgy central defender Konstantinos Mavropanos conquered the air superiority vis à vis the Hamburg goal. His header to make it 1-0 into the right triangle was not even within reach of the fabulous HSV keeper Heuer-Fernandes. With the 1-0 win, VfB got straight to the point.
The faces say it all: how should the Hamburgers turn the result over again?
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Image: dpa
It took a while before the defensively overly agile North Germans were able to counterattack at least selectively. For the time being, VfB dominated with swift attacks, which were often launched down the left flank by lively Führich and through the middle by captain Wataru Endo. Center forward Guirassy should have used a Stuttgart counterattack alone in front of Heuer-Fernandes to make it 2-0, but was denied by the famous Hamburg goalkeeper (23rd). Four minutes later, he produced another brilliant feat when, after Reis had fouled Millot, he saved the following penalty from Guirassy on the edge of the HSV penalty area.
Hamburger SV only found their pass relay football better shortly before the break against Stuttgart, who were defending more and more carelessly, and after a lack of concentration on the part of former regular keeper Florian Müller, who had returned to the goal for Fabian Bredlow, who had injured his knee, had a great chance to equalize when Glatzel had his opportunity didn’t use it decisively enough and Anton was able to block the shot from the HSV centre-forward (35′).
From a Stuttgart perspective, the second half started just as furiously as the first. A lightning-fast attack by VfB via Führich and Millot was completed by former HSV professional and young national player Vagnoman with an untenable shot to make it 2-0. And then all the dams broke at the North Germans, who had been second-class for five years, when Guirassy, who had extended his contract until 2026 the day before, also scored: with a header after Sosa’s corner kick. The game was decided, the relegation, the second part of which will take place on Monday evening in Hamburg’s Volkspark, possibly too.
