display
Liberec (dpa) - TSG 1899 Hoffenheim has made it into the knockout round of an international competition for the first time.
The Bundesliga team won 2-0 (0-0) at FC Slovan Liberec in the Czech Republic and landed their fourth win in their fourth group game.
In the empty stadium u Nisy, Christoph Baumgartner (77th minute) and substitute Andrej Kramaric scored the goals for the Kraichgauer with a hand penalty (89th), who extended their table lead.
This means that coach Sebastian Hoeneß's team is ahead of the two final games at Roter Stern Belgrade (December 3rd) and against KAA Gent (December 10th).
Under the then coach Julian Nagelsmann, the Hoffenheim team were eliminated from the 2017 Europa League and 2018 Champions League as bottom group after the preliminary round.
display
Hoeneß initially spared striker Kramaric, who made his comeback in the 3: 3 on Saturday against VfB Stuttgart.
The Croatian first sat on the bench.
Instead, the Brazilian Klauss and the only 18-year-old Maximilian Beier stormed - but without setting any major accents.
Of the seven TSG professionals who were recently in quarantine, only playmaker Sebastian Rudy was in the starting line-up.
After the break, Robert Skov came to reinforce the left wing.
Liberec had 15 corona-related failures in the 0: 5 in the first leg, but this time presented themselves as a much more resilient opponent.
In the first half, which was poor in highlights, both teams wore one another in duels.
Rudy, Florian Grillitsch and Christoph Baumgartner were able to sort out the TSG game, but there were no brilliant ideas.
In the only big chance for the superior guests, the Austrian Baumgartner hit the post after half an hour.
The Hoffenheim team, who competed in magenta-colored jerseys and have not won the league for six matches, also initially struggled in vain in the second round.
After an hour Kramaric and Ihlas Bebou came for the attack, but someone else scored: Baumgartner saw the gap after a pass from Melayro Bogarde - and goalkeeper Filip Nguyen did not look good with his shot from 15 meters.
Shortly before the end, Kramaric also met from the penalty spot.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201126-99-478717 / 3