Hamburger SV has preserved its minimal chance of returning to the Bundesliga.

The North Germans won 3-0 (2-0) against Karlsruher SC in front of their home crowd on Saturday evening and caught up with fifth place in the second division at least until Sunday.

In order for the return to be possible four years after being relegated from the upper house, the competition must also play their part – by stealing points from one another.

This can happen on Easter Sunday (1.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the second division), when leaders Schalke 04 and fourth-placed Darmstadt 98 meet at the Böllenfalltor, while third-placed Werder Bremen welcomes fifth-placed 1. FC Nürnberg.

Robert Glatzel (23rd minute) with his 18th goal of the season, Mario Vuskovic with a directly converted free kick (32nd) and Josha Vagnoman (68th) ensured Hamburg's deserved victory.

The Karlsruhe team had to play around 60 minutes with ten men because Daniel Gordon saw yellow-red.

The weakened Badener remain stuck in the midfield of the league.

They need a point in the remaining four games to reach the 40-point mark, which has always guaranteed them a place in the league for the past 15 years.

HSV coach Tim Walter initially left out Sonny Kittel, who had recently been criticized as the idea provider and goal preparer, and included two center forwards in Mikkel Kaufmann and Glatzel in the starting eleven.

The Hanseatic League were dominant from the start, showed enthusiasm, played freely after the lead and pressed constantly.

In the one-sided game, the Karlsruhe team rarely relieved the pressure and, with ten men, complained about a high level of exhaustion.

The guests did not succeed enough, the defense afforded dropouts, the attack was too harmless.

On the other hand, Hamburg also used the game as a dress rehearsal before the cup semi-final against Freiburg on Tuesday (8.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the DFB Cup and on ARD).

Despite the almost hopeless deficit on the promotion places, Walter had announced that he wanted to win every game until the end of the season.

"There's no such thing as taking it easy," said the coach, who should remain in office even if promotion is missed.