Historical catch-up possible
©IMAGO
1. FC Heidenheim won’t let themselves be defeated. After the Ostalb club had already been written off after 30 match days, Frank Schmidt’s team secured a final at home against Mainz 05 next Saturday with a 3-1 win at 1. FC Köln. “I said it: If we manage to win here at 1. FC Köln, then we’re really keen on the season finale. We have the chance to play in the Bundesliga next year,” said the coach. It would be a historic race to catch up.
With 19 points after 30 matchdays, Heidenheim welcomed relegation rivals FC St. Pauli on matchday 31; the gap to the Kiezkicker was seven points at that point. A defeat would mean relegation to the Bundesliga after three years. “It was an almost hopeless situation in which I then said that it was damn hard to believe, after so many games without a win, that we would still manage to stay in the league in the end,” explained Schmidt. In the history of the Bundesliga, teams had 19 points or less after 30 games 18 times – all of them were relegated.
St. Pauli was defeated 2-0, followed by a spectacular 3-3 draw at German champions FC Bayern, where victory was snatched from Heidenheim’s hands at the last second. After the 3-1 win against 1. FC Köln at the weekend, FCH has now overtaken St. Pauli. Heidenheim has been the Bundesliga team with the strongest form in the last three weeks. On the last matchday there will be a relegation showdown at Millerntor between FC St. Pauli and VfL Wolfsburg – like Heidenheim, both have 26 points. Lower Saxony is currently in relegation place. Heidenheim has to win against Mainz to conquer it. If the game ends in a draw or if St. Pauli wins by the same margin as Heidenheim, they will go into relegation again.
Many experts such as Lothar Matthäus said the Heidenheim team only had a slim chance of staying in the league. “Lothar Matthäus said yesterday: Wolfsburg 60 percent, Pauli 30 percent, we have a 10 percent chance. I would never contradict Lothar, but 10 percent is 1000 percent more than a few weeks ago. We believe in it,” said Schmidt happily.
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