Darmstadt 98 is back on track in the promotion race of the 2nd Bundesliga. After two recent games without a win, coach Florian Kohfeldt’s team struggled to a 2-0 (0-0) win against 1. FC Nürnberg. This means that the “Lilien” will jump to second place in promotion behind leaders Schalke 04 at least until Sunday, but SV Elversberg can overtake them again with a win against VfL Bochum (1:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the 2nd Bundesliga and on Sky).
Hiroki Akiyama (60th) and Luca Marseiler (75th) scored decisively for Darmstadt. Akiyama got the ball in the backcourt after a corner and deliberately shot it into the left corner, Marseiler provided clarity following a counterattack with a cheeky lob over Nuremberg’s goalkeeper Jan Reichert.
Nuremberg, without suspended coach Miroslav Klose on the sidelines, remains stuck in mid-table. Coached by former professional Javier Pinola, the FCN showed a committed performance, especially in the first half. However, Eric Porstner (22nd) and twice Julian Justvan (42nd/44th) did not reward the guests.
Meanwhile, Arminia Bielefeld fought for a point with a lot of morale. Against Holstein Kiel, coach Mitch Kniat’s team came from a two-goal deficit to a 2:2 (0:2) and avoided their fifth defeat in the last seven games. The last victory came on November 8th, and since then Arminia has only gotten three points.
Against the in-form Kiel team, Leon Schneider (33′) hit his own goal when he tried to clear a cross from the right side. Kiel’s Ivan Nekic (45.+2) increased shortly before the break.
Bielefeld struggled to find an answer and scored in the final phase. Kiel’s Ivan Nekic (69th) saw the yellow-red card, Joel Grodowski (70th) nerve-rackedly converted the penalty to make it 1-2. Noah-Joel Sarenren-Bazee (87th) saved the point.
Even before the equalizer, Bielefeld had been pushing for a goal. A long-range shot from Marius Wörl (73′) hit the crossbar. Then Grodowski tried to score a penalty and was shown a yellow card (77′). After being substituted, Sarenren-Bazee only needed a few seconds to equalize: he scored with his head to make it 2-2.
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