BBoth have been leading their teams since summer 2021, both have achieved the excellent average of more than 1.9 points per competitive game since then, both have brought their traditional clubs on course for the Bundesliga and both make no secret of the fact that they find each other really unsympathetic. Whether in a personal encounter on the sidelines, where the verbal poison darts just flew back and forth between the coaches’ benches. Or, not deigning to look, sitting vis-a-vis on the press conference podium.
The great importance and the enormous intensity of the showdown on Saturday evening in the Böllenfalltor stadium was not suitable for initiating or even simulating a good colleague relationship between Torsten Lieberknecht from Darmstadt and Tim Walter from Hamburg. We should see each other again – in the new season in the Bundesliga.
The 1-1 draw in a game that was atmospherically dense in the stands and sometimes fiery on the pitch did not significantly shift the weight in the second division promotion race. But with their consistency and quality, after 22 matchdays Darmstadt and Hamburg have settled into the direct promotion places with a balance of 49 and 45 points, respectively.
“It was pure joy, pure fun”
After the duel, the southern Hessian leader was happy about the continuation of the series, which has now grown to 21 undefeated league games in a row. The Hanseatic permanent promotion favorite could grieve a little, not having shot up an early lead by Ransford Yeboah Königsdörffer (4th minute) by conceding a late goal. The big point was within reach of the team, who didn’t get any room to shine from the energetic Darmstadt team, but showed themselves to be convincingly resilient.
It can’t have been a coincidence that after Filip Stojilkovic’s equalizer (81st) Lieberknecht came to a halt in his emotional high-speed jubilant sprint onto the pitch right in front of the HSV bench. “It was pure joy, the pure fun of my team’s game,” said Lieberknecht with a smile.
In fact, the “lilies” deserved the day’s result of keeping HSV at a distance after the first carelessness that led to the goal. Because they successfully thwarted the North Germans’ build-up game, which was geared towards ball possession, for almost 90 minutes, captured many balls through high pressing and created numerous scoring chances.
With a mixture of power and will, enriched by tactical variability and playful advantages. Symbolic of this was the wild scene when “Lilien” professional Mathias Honsak transported the ball from close range to the inside of the post before the former Darmstadt player in the HSV goal Daniel Heuer Fernandes cleared it a few centimeters in time (41st).
Lieberknecht and the ascension trauma
The southern Hessian serial offenders showed once again that there doesn’t seem to be a bad day for them since the only defeat of the season (on the first day of play in Regensburg). That their confidence in their own abilities and the naturalness of their game has something indestructible that no second division opponent has been able to ignore since mid-July.
Complete system failures like in the previous season in the home game against HSV – the Walter-Elf won 5-0 with four goals from striker Robert Glatzel at the Böllenfalltor – belong to the distant past. In the previous season, both clubs competed for third place in the relegation game until the last matchday. The Hamburgers were in the lead in the fight for the slightly better goal difference, also due to the fat prey in the direct duel.
Now, reinforced by the impressions from Saturday evening, there is much to suggest that after their fifth (HSV) or sixth (SVD) second division year in a row, both will march together through the wide open door into the Bundesliga. After all, they don’t have to deal with competition from the Werder and Schalke weight classes like last year, but “only” with pursuers from Heidenheim, Paderborn and Kaiserslautern.
Especially since in the past second division seasons the second in the table with 63, 64, 58, 57 and 60 points reached the direct goal of promotion. So the way for both opponents does not seem far on the remaining twelve matchdays. Only Lieberknecht is still dragging his promotion trauma from 2017 around with him – at that time 66 points were not enough for his Braunschweig Eintracht to jump into the upper house. He will not make an appointment with his Hamburg colleague Walter to tell him about it.
