With a strong performance on Friday evening (September 1st, 2023), Fortuna Düsseldorf took over the top of the table in the 2nd Bundesliga, at least for the time being. Gast Karlsruher SC took the lead, but after the break Fortuna turned up the heat and beat Baden 3-1 (1-1).
Fabian Schleusener surprised the Rhinelanders and scored early on for the KSC lead (3rd minute). But Yannik Engelhardt soon equalized (14′). After the break, Christos Tzolis scored the 2-1 (55th), which is worth seeing, only slightly later Marvin Wanitzek steered a cross pass from Matthias Zimmermann unhappily into his own net (57th). After their third win of the season, Düsseldorf is now ahead of Hamburger SV, who have the same number of points (10 each). The North Germans play against Hansa Rostock (9), who are now third, on Sunday (1.30 p.m.). On Saturday, however, some competitors can already pass Fortuna.
KSC with lightning start, but Fortuna reacts
Both teams started the game with seven points. Fortuna’s coach Daniel Thioune honored Tzolis’ brace against Elversberg and put the Greek in the starting XI, for whom Emmanel Iyoha had to sit on the bench for the time being. And the people of Düsseldorf quickly rubbed their eyes.
Because after a short corner, Marcel Franke tested Düsseldorf keeper Florian Kastenmeier, whose defense put the ball right in front of Schleusener’s feet: This time Kastenmeier was powerless. But Düsseldorf reacted. And how.
Tzoli’s KSC goalie first forced Patrick Drewes into a brilliant act, but then the visitors’ defense blundered in the build-up play. Veteran Jerome Gondorf let Engelhardt chase the ball away at his own 16-man limit and then lay on the ground and watched how the Düsseldorfer scored with a hard right-footed shot to give the home side the lead.
Dusseldorf increases pressure
After the equalizer, Fortuna Düsseldorf increased the pressure, but did not score another goal before the break. But then came the double strike after the break: Substitute Iyoha hit the crossbar (Drewes touched it with his fingertips), and a little later Shinta Appelkamp served Tzolis, who fired an irresistible shot from the left corner of the box to the top right. And that’s not all.
Two minutes later, when Zimmermann tried to play the ball sharply from the right into the middle of the Karlsruhe penalty area, Wanitzek made life difficult for his keeper with a long leg and steered the ball into his own goal.
Karlsruhe didn’t get back into the game as a result and had no more ideas against the now self-confident and clever hosts. In the final phase, Dzenis Burnic appeared once in front of Kastenmeier, who was able to parry his shot.
Fortuna in Rostock, KSC welcomes Lautern
Fortuna Düsseldorf meets Hansa Rostock on the coming matchday (Saturday, September 16th, 2023 at 1 p.m.). Karlsruher SC is playing against 1. FC Kaiserslautern at the same time.