The Stuttgart pros celebrated with their fans as if staying up was already perfect – the guests from the north, on the other hand, slipped off the pitch badly beaten: For Hamburger SV, the dream of the long-awaited return to the Bundesliga is almost over. The overwhelmed second division third lost the first relegation duel in the clearly superior Bundesliga-16. VfB Stuttgart with 0: 3 (0: 1) – and seems to gamble away the rise again in the last few meters.
“We continue to throw everything into the balance to hope for a miracle, but it has to be a miracle,” said HSV sports director Jonas Boldt on Sky with a view to the second leg on Monday (8.45 p.m. / Sat.1 and Sky ). Then HSV fights for its last small chance to finally leave the lower house after five long years. “Such a performance, such a result doesn’t make the whole thing any easier,” said Boldt.
VfB, on the other hand, has the best chance of averting fourth relegation after 1975, 2016 and 2019. Because Stuttgart got off to a flying start. After just 44 seconds, Konstantinos Mavropanos scored the acclaimed lead in front of 47,500 spectators in the sold-out arena. Ex-Hamburger Josha Vagnoman made it 2-0 (51st), Serhou Guirassy made everything clear (54th).
Guirassy missed an even better starting position for Sebastian Hoeneß’s team: The striker failed in the 27th minute with a penalty kick on the strong HSV keeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes, who saved the six-time German champions from a debacle. To make matters worse, the substitute HSV professional Anssi Suhonen saw red for gross foul play (69th).
In any case, the statistics speak for VfB. In the previous 24 relegation duels, the first division team prevailed 18 times. However, the last first division club to fail was: Stuttgart (2019 to Union Berlin).
Pressure, said VfB sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth before kick-off, “could also be positive”. And VfB started furiously. After a corner kick from Borna Sosa, Mavropanos scored with a powerful free-standing header for an early lead. Heuer Fernandes was powerless for the second fastest goal in relegation history.
HSV, where the recently suspended Ludovit Reis and Bakery Jatta started again, was shocked, VfB kept the pressure on, but failed again and again due to the strong Heuer Fernandes – twice it was Chris Führich, twice Guirassy. Both times the striker, for whom VfB had taken the option to buy on Wednesday, was far too careless. Also in the penalty given by Reis to Enzo Millot.
There was no sign of the best away team in the 2nd division. The early deficit, but perhaps also the drama of the weekend about the almost promotion in the long-distance duel with 1. FC Heidenheim, put the team of coach Tim Walter.
Only after a good half hour did HSV become a bit braver. The only chance before the break was favored by Florian Müller, who replaced the injured Fabian Bredlow in the VfB goal. Müller hesitated too long with the ball at his feet, Jatta and Robert Glatzel almost took advantage of the mistake.
After the change, Stuttgart immediately took the initiative again and was quickly rewarded. As is so often the case, HSV didn’t seem stable defensively, and certainly not ready for the first division.