TSG Hoffenheim and Sebastian Hoeneß win the Europa League

DThanks to Christoph Baumgartner and Munas Dabbur, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim celebrated a successful start in the Europa League even without fans in the Sinsheim stadium. The Bundesliga club defeated Red Star Belgrade 2-0 (0-0) in the first group game on Thursday evening. Against the Serbian champions and European Cup winners of the national champions of 1991, the Austrian Baumgartner scored in the 64th minute and Dabbur (90th + 3) the hits. For Kraichgauer, who started without top scorer Andrej Kramaric, it was only the second win in their 15th international appearance – and the first under the new coach Sebastian Hoeneß.

“As a young boy, it was always my dream to play the Champions League one day. Maybe it’ll work again. Now I’m scoring a goal and helping the team to succeed in the Europa League. That was a deserved victory, ”said goal scorer Baumgartner at Nitro.

In the second group game, Hoeneß’s team will go to Belgium to KAA Gent, which lost 1-0 to Slovan Liberec from the Czech Republic on Thursday. Hoffenheim really want to spend the winter on the European stage after they were thrown out of the group games in their first Europa League season in 2017 and a year later in the Champions League under head coach Julian Nagelsmann. TSG had their only victory in the European Cup with a 3-1 win against Istanbul Basaksehir.

“We can speak of an absolutely deserved win. It was definitely a strong performance, especially in defense,” said Hoeneß, satisfied with his international debut. He used full-back Ryan Sessegnon, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, for the first time from the start against the team of former Italy professional Dejan Stankovic. Many of TSG’s attacks in the tough game were initially directed at national player Sebastian Rudy, who has been on the right wing since his return from FC Schalke 04. Dabbur and Ishak Belfodil formed the attack without Kramaric. The Croatian World Cup runner-up had tested positive for the corona virus last week, as did Kasim Adams. Pavel Kaderabek is still in quarantine after a family case.

Roter Stern had to do without his equally infected top striker Mirko Ivanic and fought vehemently against the game-determining TSG from the start. For a long time, the hosts lacked brilliant ideas against the robust Belgrade residents. Just before half-time, Dabbur found a gap after a Rudy pass, but only hit the post.

The wear and tear without playful shine continued after the break – but also without Grillitsch. The Austrian international left the arena to be there for the birth of his child. With a nice direct acceptance on a pass from Rudy, Baumgartner then scored the opening goal at his premiere in the Europa League. Stankovic saw a punishable foul by Kevin Akpoguma before conceding a goal and was so upset that the Spanish referee Alejandro Hernández showed him the yellow-red card.