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Serhou Guirassy missed a penalty goal and scored with a header
Photo: Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
Dash: Kick-off, attack VfB, corner, goal. After just 45 seconds, the Bundesliga relegation between VfB Stuttgart and Hamburger SV was really open. A corner kick from Borna Sosa was magnificently curled into the right corner by Konstantinos Mavropanos. The second-fastest goal in relegation history after Maximilian Beister's 25-second goal for Fortuna Düsseldorf in 2012.
Result: VfB Stuttgart won the first leg of the Bundesliga relegation play-off 48-500 (3-0) against Hamburger SV in front of 1,0 spectators. Click here for the match report.
Pure football: In the minutes before kick-off, we saw a commentator Wolff Fuss looking comfortably into the camera, but we heard... nothing. Just spectators, mood, anticipation. Did Sat.1 want to give us the gift of a pure game, nothing but a stadium atmosphere? It was only after four minutes and 35 seconds that Fuss and his co-star Markus Babbel could be heard. "There are sound problems on certain devices," was the mystical explanation.
First half: The hosts' 1-0 win was followed by a period of stabilisation at HSV, but VfB still had the next chance: Chris Führich forced HSV keeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes to make a strong save with a shot from a half-left position (9th minute). Serhou Guirassy ran alone towards the opponent's goal in the 23rd minute – but missed the 2-0. Four minutes later, Guirassy's chance was even greater: Ludovit Reis had caused a penalty, but the Stuttgart attacker failed again to Heuer Fernandes (27th). It continued: shot Führich, giant save Heuer Fernandes (29th). In injury time, Mavropanos headed just past the right (45+1). The fact that VfB only led 1-0 should annoy him.
Second half: Jonas David and Joshua Vagnoman had played together at HSV since the C-Youth, and Vagnoman moved to VfB last summer. In Stuttgart, he became a national player – and scored possibly the most important goal of his career in the 51st minute. The 22-year-old converted a cross from the left wing to make it 2-0. He spared himself the jubilation because of his Hamburg past. And: What was Guirassy actually doing? Scored after another corner from Sosa by head to make it 3-0 (54th). In the 58th minute, there was finally a sign of life from Hamburg: Robert Glatzel missed a huge chance with a header. Anssi Suhonen saw red in the 69th minute, HSV was now only ten - and after 90 minutes thanks to Heuer Fernandes still well served with the 0:3.
Switching errors: HSV midfielder Reis walked on the threshold of being sent off and was therefore substituted in the 60th minute. He was replaced by Suhonen – who was off work just nine minutes later after a kick on Vagnoman's thigh.
Müller plays over and over again (again): Stuttgart keeper Florian Müller, the former number one, moved back into the VfB goal due to Fabian Bredlow's injury. Psychologically, it's a wonderful thing, as Müller had shone on his Bundesliga debut in Hamburg more than five years ago: the then Mainz player saved a penalty from Filip Kostić in the 0-0 draw at Volkspark. He didn't do anything similarly heroic on Thursday evening, he also had a few wobbles in his performance, but he was on hand for Glatzel's header after just under an hour.
Factor Hoeneß: VfB Stuttgart were bottom of the table when Sebastian Hoeneß took over as coach of the club in the spring. Since then, there has been only one defeat in eight league games, and the relegation first leg remained undefeated. Should this series continue in the last game of the season between the two, the higher class will have prevailed ten times in the past eleven duels between the first and second division clubs. Serial breaker due to a relegation in 2019 against second division club Union Berlin would remain – VfB Stuttgart.
Walter's return and round two: In the summer of 2019, the current HSV coach Tim Walter took over the second division club VfB Stuttgart, and six months later it was over for him after a 2-6 defeat at HSV, among other things. Without Walter, Stuttgart was promoted at the end of the season. During the week, he had treated himself to a small tip in the direction of his old employer: VfB was a "great" club, while HSV was a "big" one. As of now, the great, not the big club is allowed to plan for the Bundesliga, because no team has ever been able to make up a three-goal deficit in the Bundesliga relegation. The second leg will take place next Monday (20:45 CET) at Hamburg's Volksparkstadion.