With their second home win in a row, Fortuna Düsseldorf left the relegation zone at the start of the second half of the second Bundesliga. The Rhinelanders defeated newly promoted Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 (0-0) and moved up to 14th place. Bielefeld, on the other hand, without a win in eight away games, fell back into relegation place. In front of 39,304 spectators, Cedric Itten scored the winning goal for Fortuna in the 86th minute.
The hosts, who had lost the first leg 1:5 after leading 1-0, started the game well and had a very good chance through their striker Itten in the 7th minute, but the Swiss headed the ball just over the goal. The East Westphalians played well and stressed the Fortuna defense more often, but without creating any dangerous scenes in front of the goal.
Düsseldorf also had this in the second half, especially through Anouar El Azzouzi (47th/57th). Marius Wörl missed the best opportunity for Bielefeld (64th). With his seventh goal of the season, Itten redeemed the hosts in the final phase.
Magdeburg furious
Meanwhile, 1. FC Magdeburg has taken the next step out of the bottom of the table. With the confident 3-0 win at Eintracht Braunschweig, the FCM started the new year perfectly after the short winter break. Mateusz Zukowski (41st minute), Baris Atik (79th) and Maximilian Breunig (90th) scored the goals.
This ended Braunschweig’s short streak; Eintracht had not lost four times in a row before the turn of the year. Both teams now have 20 points after the 18th matchday, Magdeburg is 13th in the table due to the better goal difference. but just ahead.
Zukowski could have given coach Petrik Sander’s team the lead in the first minute, but Eintracht keeper Ron-Thorben Hoffmann was there in time. After a long, uneventful first half, in which Braunschweig had no offensive ideas at all and was disappointing, the score was 1-0. Zukowski took the dust after Hoffmann had previously fended off a shot from Atik.
Braunschweig’s new offensive player Faride Alidou was substituted straight away at half-time. The loan from 1. FC Kaiserslautern was not convincing; Sidi Sané came in for him. But even after the tactical changes, Magdeburg dominated the encounter. Braunschweig reached its limits in terms of play and was unable to do anything as the game progressed. Atik made the decision with a cleverly placed shot before substitute Breunig also scored late on.
