Hamburger SV has now spent five years in the second division – a sixth is likely to be added. The Bundesliga-16. After the relegation first leg, VfB Stuttgart is almost through thanks to a sovereign and actually still too low 3-0 (1-0) on Thursday evening (June 1st, 2023).
HSV, overwhelmed in every respect, thought they had reached the goal of their dreams for a long time on the last second division matchday, but were then slowed down by Heidenheim’s winning goal in the ninth minute of injury time. Coach Tim Walter actually wanted to draw strength from this negative experience: “We’ve shown so many times that this HSV can get back on its feet and we’ll do it again this time.”he had promised.
This quality was then immediately in demand again in the relegation: After only 46 seconds, the ex-first division Dino was behind again.
Goalscorer Mavropanos without opponents
Surprisingly, after a corner from Borna Sosa, none of the guests felt responsible for Konstantinos Mavropanos, who was able to head in from ten meters without any pressure.
After that, the hosts initially withdrew a bit and seemed to want to counterattack. But after ten minutes, Stuttgart increased the pressure in midfield and had the next top chance through Chris Führich – but his diagonal shot flew just over the bar. In this phase, the Hamburgers did not get their right side of defense tight: Führich and Sosa always got through too easily with crosses and advances.
Tough minutes for VfB striker Guirassy
And Hamburg remained extremely shaky in the center as well. In the 23rd minute, ex-Hamburger Josha Vagnoman sent his colleague Serhou Guirassy steeply, the HSV chain was overwhelmed with this brisk combination. But Guirassy’s finish was miserable: from 15 meters he pushed the ball into Daniel Heuer Fernandes’ arms, suspecting a back pass.
It was a tough few minutes for the VfB centre-forward. Shortly after his big chance, he was allowed to try from the penalty spot after Ludovit Reis had found Enzo Millot in the penalty area in another failed attempt to defend. But Guirassy again didn’t have the nerve and failed with a half-baked shot at Heuer Fernandes (27th).
Fernandes best hamburger this year
In this phase, the HSV goalkeeper was not only far ahead when it came to touching the ball, he was also the best Hamburger in general: In the 30th minute, he steered Führich’s next shot from the left over the goal with an amazing reaction.
The best news for Hamburg at the end of the first half was that, thanks to their keeper, they were still in the running for Bundesliga membership for the coming season. But the next setback followed swiftly: five minutes after the restart, the defender couldn’t keep up with a quick combination from the left, Führich and the also very strong Millot brilliantly freed Vagnoman, who only had to complete the empty goal from the inside right.
Next goal after a corner
But not only against the passing game of Stuttgart, the learning effects at HSV did not materialize, even with the defensive standards, the allocation did not work: In the 55th minute Guirassy made it 3-0. Again Sosa had hit a corner hard into the center, again the defenders of Hamburg were miserably positioned.
Tim Walter was dismayed and shook his head and three minutes later had cause for anger again: This time it was a missed header by Robert Glatzel from close range, Bredlow representative Florian Müller in the VfB goal had shortened the angle excellently.
Lightning red for Suhonen
Couldn’t it be worse for HSV? Actually yes. After an hour, Walter took the yellow-biased rice from the field and brought Anssi Suhonen. But he obviously couldn’t cope with the pressure situation and just nine minutes later committed a pointless and brutal foul: with a stretched leg and the cleats in front, he climbed onto Vagnoman’s thigh – the very attentive referee Tobias Welz immediately drew the red card.
The review of this scene on the monitor is probably one of the shortest in the history of VAR: A single glance was enough for Welz to order the Finn off the field again with a hand movement. In the second leg on Monday (8.45 p.m., live ticker at sportschau.de) Suhonen will be missing – but HSV has far bigger problems and needs the comeback qualities cited by Walter extremely.