André Breitenreiter is back at Hannover 96 – and in the new, old coach’s first game against SSV Jahn Regensburg in the 2nd Bundesliga there was reason to celebrate.
The only goal of the game came after a dead ball. Hyun-ju Lee headed a free kick from Enzo Leopold to Jessic Ngankam, who scored from close range in the 35th minute to make the final score 0-1 (0-1).
Hannover is climbing
96 won the first game under the new coach André Breitenreiter, 51, who is not new to Hanover. He once played for the club in the Bundesliga, and later led them back there as a coach before Hannover parted ways with him a year and a half later. That was six years ago.
Now Breitenreiter should lead Hannover 96 back into the Bundesliga as Stefan Leitl’s successor. The chances are not bad at the moment: After the win against Regensburg, 96 climbed to second place (30 points), at least for one night, which would mean direct promotion at the end of the season.
Regensburg hits aluminum twice
However, 96 was lucky in a few moments against Jahn Regensburg and the game could have ended differently. Just two examples: Eric Hottmann hit the outside post in the early stages (12′) as did Noah Ganaus (89′) shortly before the end. In addition, winter signing Sargis Adamyan was denied a great chance by the well-reacting 96 goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler (22′).
“I didn’t see Hannover as the better team,” said Regensburg coach Andreas Patz on the Sportschau microphone after the game. “It’s a shame that we didn’t manage to score in the end, but we played a very good game against a candidate for promotion and now we have to stick with it.”
Dirk Feustel, Sportschau, January 17, 2025 9:44 p.m
Regensburg in Ulm, Hanover against Münster
Jahn Regensburg remains bottom of the table (11 points) after the 13-game defeat in the 18th game of the season. Next weekend Regensburg will play away at SSV Ulm (January 26th, 1:30 p.m.). Hannover plays at home against Preußen Münster at the same time.