5:2 after 0:2: 1. FC Magdeburg turned the chase against SV Elversberg and climbed to second place in the table. Man of the match was Martijn Kaars.
In front of 10,000 spectators in the Arena an der Kaiserlinde, Luca Schnellbacher (3rd) and Lukas Petkov (36th) scored the goals for the hosts, who played the second half outnumbered after a red card against Frederik Schmahl (44th). Martijn Kaars (47th, 70th, 90th+1), Xavier Amaechi (77th) and Mo El Hankouri (82nd, penalty) turned the game around.
While Magdeburg is now second with 31 points, Elversberg slips to seventh place with 28 points.
Magdeburg’s coach Christian Titz was correspondingly satisfied. “We have to score at least three or four goals in the first 20 minutes. We had so many good chances to score. But then we didn’t defend well twice and let the opponent take the lead.”he said on the sports show microphone. In the second half, the majority and the quick goal would have helped: “We stayed in the game well and didn’t let ourselves down.”
Elversberg coach Horst Steffen saw the sending off as a sticking point: “If we were allowed to continue playing with eleven, then we would have gotten a lot more out of it. The red card helped Magdeburg a lot and we conceded the goals too easily.”
Custom-made start for Elversberg
Elversberg got off to a perfect start and took the lead after the first dangerous action. After winning the ball in midfield, they quickly moved forward on the right side, Muhammed Damar backheeled the ball to Schnellbacher and he scored the early 1-0.
The guests from Magdeburg only shook each other briefly. Elversberg’s goalkeeper Nicolas Kristof prevented the equalizer twice, first in a one-on-one against Kaars and then also parrying El-Hankouri’s follow-up shot. And shortly afterwards luck was on the hosts’ side again because Kaars appeared free in front of Kristof after a pass, but then passed the ball across to Baris Atik – Florian Le Joncour intervened. In the 20th minute it was Kaars again who was denied by Kristof from close range after a beautiful cross from von El-Hankouri.
It remained an intense game and then, in the 28th minute, it was Elversberger’s turn again. Damar appeared on the left of the penalty area after a nice move, but his low shot was missed by goalkeeper Dominik Reimann, who extended his foot. Then the SVS followed up: Magdeburg lost the ball again in midfield and things happened very quickly. Petkov went up and down the right side, went around his opponent in the penalty area and flicked the ball into the far corner with the outside of his foot – a great goal.
Expulsion as a sticking point
Shortly before the break there was a ray of hope for Magdeburg: After losing the ball, Frederik Schmahl only knew how to help with an emergency stop against El Hankouri, who would have run freely towards the goal. Referee Lars Erbst pulled out the red card.
Knowing that they were now in the majority, Magdeburg got going after the restart and it took less than two minutes to score. Burcu directed a cross from Nollenberger to Kaars and he headed the ball over the line.
Kaars the man of the match
As a result, Elversberg retreated a long way and decided early on to save the lead over time. Magdeburg struggled, but no longer had any clear chances. Until the 70th minute: Atik played a pass to Kaars, who pushed the ball past Kristof into the goal. Referee Erbst initially ruled it offside, but the goal was ruled anyway.
The FCM stayed tuned and followed up. Amaechi calmly picked up the ball on the edge of the penalty area and flicked it into the far corner. After that, Elversberg fell apart. After Maurice Neubauer brought down Kaars in the penalty area, El Hankouri converted the penalty and Kaars scored his third goal in stoppage time.
Elversberg in Cologne, Magdeburg against Barunschweig
Elversberg has to play away at 1. FC Köln on the next matchday on Saturday (January 25th, 2025, 1:00 p.m.). Magdeburg welcomes Eintracht Braunschweig on Friday (6:30 p.m.).