With the 2-1 (2-1) win in Hamburg, Hoffenheim moved up to fourth place, at least temporarily, and opened the door a little further towards Champions League qualification.
The Hoffenheim team felt how difficult it can be to take a win from Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion. The relegation-threatened Hamburgers didn’t make it easy for the Champions League contenders. After Fisnik Asllani took the lead (19th), Robert Glatzel (34th) equalized with a penalty, before Tim Lemperle (44th) gave the visitors the lead again and the final score shortly before the half-time whistle.
“Not many teams manage to win away from home here. It was a hard work victory, the result is above all else. In the end I believe that we are the deserved winners. We dream of the Champions League, but we don’t just want to talk about it, we also want to show on the field that we can be involved in the concert of the greats until the end.”said TSG coach Christian Ilzer in the Sportschau interview.
First chance, first goal
At the start of the game there was little evidence that both teams had had a few weeks of poor form. The guests from Hoffenheim started the game aggressively and wanted to take control of the game. But that didn’t really work. The first promising actions in front of the goal did not belong to the sixth place in the table, but to the home team, in particular Bakery Jatta and Ransford Königsdörffer.
It was all the more bitter from Hamburg’s perspective that Fisnik Asllani was able to convert TSG’s first real scoring opportunity. Coufal first saved the ball from going out and then gave the cross into the center, where Asllani (19th) was completely free to shoot from almost six meters. No chance for HSV keeper Heuer Fernandes.
Equalizer with a penalty
HSV’s answer came twelve minutes later: Ozan Kabak with the short back pass to Baumann, which Robert Glatzel grabbed and ran alone towards the Hoffenheim goal. Glatzel passed the ball past Baumann, but fell because the Hoffenheim keeper brought him down in his defensive action. Penalty for Hamburg, which Glatzel himself took and confidently converted in the bottom right corner.
The hosts had their goalkeeper to thank for the fact that the draw lasted longer than just a minute. Touré passed the ball from the left into the center, where Kabak wanted to quickly make up for his defensive blunder, rose up and aimed a sharp header. This year Fernandes in the Hamburg goal had to really stretch to parry the ball.
Hoffenheim went into the break with a 2-1 lead
The first half was a worthwhile and largely balanced game. The fact that the fourteenth-placed side in the table were unable to take the draw into half-time was – as with the first TSV lead goal – due to inaccuracies in defense.
Shortly before the break there were several header duels in the HSV penalty area that the defense couldn’t clear properly. Hajdari found Lemperle (44′) at the right post, who pushed the ball past Heuer Fernandes over the line. The Ilzer team went into halftime 2-1.
Tim Lemperle celebrates his goal with Fisnik Asllani
Goal opportunities remain unused
The teams picked up in the second half where they left off in the first. In the 52nd minute, Hajdari brought the ball through to the middle, where Asllani was unable to finish under pressure. On the other hand, Hoffenheim’s defense thwarted attempts by Vieira and Königsdörffer. However, in order to really come close to equalizing, the Hamburg team lacked the power and a bit of luck.
Also in the 74th minute, when HSV missed what was probably their biggest chance to equalize. After a short corner from Grondahl, Vieira played the cross to Jatta, who was completely free to head the ball over the goal.
As a result, the team from Sinsheim began to keep the ball more in their own ranks and play forward less aggressively. Maintain the lead, manage the result – that was the motto of the guests, who in the end had to use all their strength to counter the hard-fought actions of Hamburg.
HSV in Frankfurt, Hoffenheim against Stuttgart
With the 2-1 (2-1) win, TSG Hoffenheim keeps the dream of the Champions League alive. The threesome allows the Kraichgauers to at least temporarily jump to fourth place – instead of worrying about being passed on to the places that “only” qualify for the Conference League. HSV, on the other hand, cannot yet relax in the relegation battle. They are currently five points ahead of St. Pauli, who occupy the relegation place.
“It was clear on both sides that there was a lot at stake, and if you made so many mistakes it was difficult to score against a team as strong as Hoffenheim.”said Hamburg coach Merlin Polzin. “We can’t influence each other’s results, so I’m not interested in them. We’re ready for the hot phase of the season. Fear is a word that’s not appropriate, we’re close together and going in the same direction.”
HSV will be visiting Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.). Hoffenheim also welcomes VfB Stuttgart on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.).
