Late away goal from Mikelbrencis
© Imago
The Hamburger SV has reported back in the Bundesliga with a point win. After seven second division years in the first game in the top German division at Borussia Mönchengladbach, the climber reached a 0-0 and thus contradicted all critics who have predicted a lack of first division after a radical squad reconstruction. Seen at least from the result, the return of the Hanseatic League was successful.
The Gladbacher, in which the short -term signed newcomer Giovanni Reyna von Borussia Dortmund was not yet in the squad, disappointed in the opening game and lacked a lot. 54,042 spectators in the Borussia Park saw an extremely moderate encounter without big highlights.
The promotion HSV lost many players from last season, but ultimately there were still six professionals from the past season in the starting line-up of coach Merlin Polzin. The new captain and most prominent new signing Yussuf Poulsen was initially only on the bench. And in the goalkeeper question, the Hamburg coach had committed itself to the proven Daniel Heuer Fernandes and not for the former Bayern keeper Daniel Peretz.
Nevertheless, there was a new eleven with a different orientation on the square. Without ball, the defensive formed a compact five-defense block. With ball, the game of Hamburg gained speed. “It will take a little while for everything to reach together,” said sports director Stefan Kuntz after the tedious 2-1 success in the DFB Cup at the top division FK Pirmasens.
The 101st Bundesliga game between the two teams, however, was a typical opening game of two teams that don’t really know where they are. The HSV started a little researcher, Gladbach was looking for the rhythm for a long time. In Haris Tabakovic there was only a new addition to the starting line -up, striker Tim Kleindienst and Nathan Ngoumou are still missing. Ex-captain Julian Weigl is released for discussions with other clubs.
A pass from Gladbach’s Kevin Stöger on Franck Honorat in the 27th minute was the first small highlight of the game. However, the Frenchman failed on this year Fernandes, who was hardly employed before. It was the greatest chance of the game for a long time. The guests only caused a little disorder in the penalty area of the Borussia in the initial phase.
The last year’s in Mönchengladbach was the dominant team, but had hardly any train to the goal and lost in long balls of ball that ended at the Hamburg penalty area. With the substitute Florian Neuhaus, train came into the Gladbach game again, but it was not enough for Borussia. Instead, Hamburg’s William Mikelbrencis met shortly before the end, but was offside when Poulsen was extended.