Darmstadt 98 conceded 0-1 in the first minute. What followed was an unprecedented collapse in the first half hour of the game.
Coach Torsten Lieberknecht’s team was already 0-5 behind after 29 minutes – with this result they went into the break. The newcomer made various individual failures.
The goals in the ticker for reading:
0:1 (Philipp Tietz, 1st minute): Less than 60 seconds have been played before Darmstadt gives the visitors the lead. In his own build-up game, defender Andreas Müller wants to pass the ball to the other side in front of the left penalty area, but apparently forgets that Tietz no longer plays for the Lilies. The FCA attacker intercepts the ball at the level of the penalty area, is then free of shoes and shoots in from eleven meters to the right to take the lead.
0:2 (Fredrik Jensen, 12th minute): Increase the score! Gjasula carelessly loses the ball in central midfield, which means that Vargas quickly switches after Demirovic’s lay-off and lifts the ball into Jensen’s path against a high Lilies defensive line. In the running duel, Jensen is faster than Gjasula on the half-right side of the box and pushes the ball from seven meters into the far corner.
0:3 (Ermedin Demirovic, 20th minute): Incomprehensible. After a back pass into his own half, Gjasula actually has all the time in the world in the half field, but turns backwards and is then unnecessarily put in trouble by the running Demirovic, which means that the actually very experienced Albanian is tempted into a catastrophic return game in the goalkeeper’s shoes. However, because the pass was far too short, Demirovic then went half-left and then stayed cool in the penalty area from around eight meters free of shoes and pushed it into the far corner.
0:4 (Rubén Vargas, 25th minute): An absolute debacle for Darmstadt! Once again the whole thing is preceded by a catastrophic bad pass – this time from Karic, who plays the ball into Vargas’ feet in front of the halfway line. Vargas lays it off for Demirovic, then simply runs through and just has to wait until Demirovic puts the ball from the half field back into the path of his colleague on the half left. Vargas then has all the space in the world again and chases the ball from around 13 meters out under the crossbar on the left.
0:5 (Ermedin Demirovic, 29th minute): Pitiful Darmstadt residents are completely lost here. Because the Hessians started off too cautiously, this time a long ball from Gouweleeuw deep from their own half was enough to break down the home side’s defensive chain on the right. Jensen receives the ball on the right edge of the box, moves slightly into the box and then passes it through to the five-yard box for the incoming Demirovic, who keeps his foot in and nets it flat into the right corner.
In the second half, the guests slowed down a gear, but they still scored another goal. Ex-Darmstadt player Tietz, who had already taken the lead, made it 6-0 in the 84th minute – and ended the day to forget for the Darmstadt team.