Next 2nd league instead of miracles from the Elbe: Hamburger SV missed the long-awaited return to the Bundesliga at the fifth attempt, VfB Stuttgart celebrates staying up in the league.
Four days after the 0:3 swatter from the first leg, HSV also lost the heated relegation second leg 1:3 (1:0) – and so the sixth season in a row in the 2nd division awaits the once great traditional club . While the Stuttgart fans were partying in the stands, tears flowed from many of the people in Hamburg.
Sonny Kittel (6th) quickly gave HSV the lead in front of 55,500 spectators in the sold-out Volksparkstadion, and belief in the sensation grew – but Enzo Millot (48th and 64th) destroyed all Hamburg hopes with his brace and gave Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeneß a steady pulse.
Before the Frenchman’s second goal, HSV keeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes, who had been the best Hamburger in the first leg, made a serious mistake. In addition, Silas scored (90 + 7).
This is the 19th time that the Bundesliga club has prevailed in the relegation – in a total of 25 duels. HSV had already failed in the two finals last year, then at Hertha BSC.
“It wasn’t a game for the faint-hearted,” said VfB sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth on “Sky”, “we conceded a goal straight away and played a relatively weak first half. But then we got out of the break well and scored 1 :1 steered the game our way.”
“It’s really a brutal disappointment. You can see how big the club is. Today the pain is there,” said HSV goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes on “Sky”. “It just hurts.” The whole city “believed in it, you could tell from the first second”.
Early cheering in the Hamburg cauldron
It takes a “football miracle. We will fight to the end,” Walter said before the game – and kept whipping his team and the fans on the sidelines.
The Hamburgers also cheered – as desired – quickly after Kittel’s powerful shot, which smacked into the goal from the inside of the post. A good ten minutes later, however, the joy was at least as great after the supposed 1-1 for VfB was conceded by Serhou Guirassy due to an offside position from the video assistant. It would have been the early end of all HSV dreams.
But HSV kept running, trying to build up their momentum. But the Stuttgart team was able to defend the attacks again and again and set pinpricks themselves via Guirassy or Millot. Over time, the guests even took control of the game.
Millot buries HSV hopes after the break
HSV continued to give everything, brought a lot of passion to the pitch – but again and again the necessary precision was missing against ripped-off Swabians. The guests stayed cool even in tricky situations with the 3-0 from the first leg in mind – and then shortly after the break Millot struck ice cold.
After the second Stuttgart goal, there was a wild pack formation, referee Bastian Dankert handed out four yellow cards. After that it got quite quiet in the stadium at times, the HSV players seemed to have pulled the plug. Stuttgart brought the success to the finish line – and can continue to play on the big stage.