Vuskovic with a dream goal
©IMAGO
Hamburger SV won its first Bundesliga northern derby in almost eight years. The promoted team defeated their eternal rivals Werder Bremen 3-2 (0-1) after an intense but low-key first half and a dramatic second half.
In front of 56,100 fans in the Volksparkstadion, Albert Sambi Lonkonga (63rd minute) initially equalized Bremen’s half-time lead through Jens Stage (45th). After that, things got wild. A backheel goal from Luka Vuskovic (75th) in the style of Zlatan Ibrahimović gave HSV the lead for the first time. Hamburg native Justin Njinmah (78th) immediately scored for Werder to make it 2-2. Just two minutes after coming on as a substitute, Yussuf Poulsen scored the winning goal. The Dane has repeatedly been injured this season and has so far been goalless. Now he became a derby hero with just one touch of the ball.
The last first division duel between the two clubs took place in February 2018 before HSV was relegated. Only one player was there both this Sunday and 2,843 days ago: Hamburg fan favorite Bakery Jatta, who was in the starting line-up for the first time this season four days after his goal in the DFB Cup against Holstein Kiel.
For a derby whose history has also included kung fu kicks on the pitch and direct duels in a European Cup semi-final, not much happened this time for a long time. There was no sign of Werder until the opening goal shortly before half-time. Until then, HSV had been the much more committed team, but remained far too harmless. When Rayan Philippe came free in front of the goal to head the ball in the 23rd minute, he didn’t hit the ball correctly. When Fábio Vieira attempted an overhead kick shortly before the score was 0-1 (41′), the ball flew well over the goal.
Only the Belgian Sambi Lokonga, on loan from top English club Arsenal FC, embodied something like the individual class of earlier derby days. And that long before his goal to make it 1-1. In Bremen’s 1-0 win, the guests first took advantage of a loss of the ball by HSV defender Nicolás Capaldo. The 5,700 Werder fans who traveled along went into ecstasy.
According to their own information, the Bremen team even received 45,000 ticket requests for the guest block. The supporters who received a ticket walked in a large green and white fan march to the stadium. The police separated the two fan camps from each other with a large contingent. So, apart from a huge fireworks display at half-time, at least in the stadium it remained largely quiet.
After the substitution, Werder failed to score a second goal. HSV goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes parried a long-range shot from Sanne Lynen (58th). After the following corner, Cameron Puertas headed past the goal (59′). After exactly this double chance, HSV coach Merlin Polzin corrected his somewhat surprising derby line-up. Ransford Königsdörffer was now allowed to play center forward again instead of Philippe. Miro Muheim replaced Aboubaka Soumahoro at the back left. From then on, this derby took off at a rapid pace.
HSV earned this success with great effort. The Hamburg team invested significantly more in this game in the last half hour and also managed to make it 2-2. In the end, Polzin’s substitution paid off twice: substitute Muheim set up substitute Poulsen’s winning goal.