MSV Duisburg suffered a bitter setback in the 3rd league promotion race at Alemannia Aachen.
In the duel between the two teams with the strongest form in the league, Alemannia, which has now been unbeaten for eight games, won 3-1 (2-0) on Friday evening and, six points behind the relegation place, still has an outside chance of promotion.
After missing out on second place, Duisburg remains fourth in the table for the time being, level on points with third-place Energie Cottbus. However, the promotion rivals are still playing at the weekend.
Mika Schroers (32nd) and Mehdi Loune (36th) put Alemannia in the lead. An own goal from Petros Bagkalianis (79th) gave Duisburg hope again until Joshua Bitter (86th) also scored into his own goal.
High intensity, little danger of scoring
While MSV coach Dietmar Hirsch decided not to make any changes to his starting eleven after the 3-1 win against 1899 Hoffenheim II, Aachen coach Mersad Selimbegovic made two changes: Lamar Yarbrough replaced the suspended Marius Wegmann and Gianluca Gaudino started in place of Niklas Castelle.
The opening phase in front of 30,894 spectators at Aachen’s Tivolo belonged to the home team, who immediately built up a lot of pressure and kept the MSV defense busy, but without getting dangerously in front of the goal. Duisburg only got out of their own half on the initially rare counterattack opportunities. The game’s first chance to score didn’t come until the 25th minute. Then Dominik Kother got a foot on a cross from Niklas Jessen and sent the ball just over the Aachen goal.
Aachen’s double strike from Schroers and Loune
When Duisburg’s Ben Schlicke cleared Gaudino with a tackle and was shown yellow, a pack formed, as a result of which Yarbrough and Lex-Tyger Lobinger were also cautioned. Lobinger will therefore be missing in the upcoming game against Energie Cottbus.
Then it was again football played and Alemannia took the lead with their first shot on goal. Tobias Fleckstein was unable to clear a through pass from Gaudino against the aggressive Pierre Nadjombe. The ball landed at the feet of Schroers, who scored with a remarkable shot from 20 meters to make it 1-0 for Alemannia (32′). And Aachen immediately followed up: Loune made it 2-0 (37th) after a strong pass from Schroers from twelve meters.
MSV needed a few minutes to recover from the double setback, but shortly before the break they came dangerously close to the Aachen goal twice. Lobinger narrowly missed his teammates’ crosses on both occasions (44′). In stoppage time, an own goal by Aachen’s Bagkalianis was not counted because Kother had fouled the defender (45th + 3).
MSV comes out of the cabin at speed
MSV coach Hirsch reacted at the break and brought in Patrick Sussek, an offensive player, for defender Schlicke. Sussek also had the first opportunity when he shot a corner that had been punched away by Aachen’s goalkeeper Fotis Pseftis directly into the stands (47th). Shortly afterwards, Krüger got a header in the penalty area, but was unable to direct it towards the goal (50′).
The Alemannia withstood the initial pressure from the MSV and were at least on par again a short time later. In the 58th minute, Yarbrough had to go out with a thigh injury and was replaced by Faton Ademi.
Duisburg had their next chance with a shot from distance by Can Coskun (59′). Hirsch left no stone unturned and switched up his offense with a triple substitution. Jan-Simon Symalla, Conor Noß and Thilo Töpken came on for Kother, Krüger and Lobinger (60th).
Duisburg despairs of the outstanding Pseftis
In the 63rd minute, Sussek was on the verge of Duisburg’s goal, but was denied by Pseftis. Shortly afterwards, the Aachen goalkeeper was there for a header from Töpken (65th). MSV remained dominant in the game, but was rarely dangerous in a very disjointed game. Instead, Alemannia had a great chance through Ademi on a counterattack. MSV keeper Maximilian Braune prevented the score from making it 0-3 (77′) with a strong reaction.
Somewhat surprisingly, Duisburg came back into the game. From a corner, Bagkalianis was headed in by Aljaz Casar, who had recently been substituted, and scored into his own goal to make it 1-2 (79′) for Duisburg. Then came the big moment for Fotis Pseftis, who first made two outstanding saves against Töpken and then in the follow-up against Sussek to prevent the equalizer (82′).
Bitter’s own goal brings the decision
But instead of the well-deserved equalizer, the score was 3-1 on the other side. During a counterattack, Gindorf played the ball flat in front of the Duisburg goal, where Bitter slipped it into his own goal with an unsuccessful attempt to clear the ball (86′). Shortly afterwards, substitute Omar Sillah had Aachen’s fourth goal on his feet, but was denied by Braune (88′).
MSV threw everything forward once again, but couldn’t get back into the game in seven minutes of stoppage time.
Next top game for Duisburg
Alemannia continues next week on Saturday (May 2nd, 2 p.m.) with a home game against Hansa Rostock. The MSV welcomes Cottbus one day later (1:30 p.m.).
Our sources:
- Game Alemannia Aachen against MSV Duisburg on April 24th, 2026
Broadcast: WDR.de“Aachen defeats Duisburg and celebrates third win in a row”, WDR.de, April 23, 20269:35 p.m
