Hamburg-Stuttgart is the return match of the Bundesliga promotion-relegation play-off, played on Monday at 20:45: predictions.
A mountain to climb. No expression could be more apt to explain the situation facing Hamburg, who will most likely be forced to postpone their return to the top flight, from where they were relegated for the first time in their history in 2018.
Tim Walter’s men, forced to play yet another play-off against the third-last Bundesliga side after a final day of league action that was nothing short of nail-biting, lost the first leg of their double-header with Stuttgart last Thursday. Sebastian Hoeness’s red-and-whites practically mortgaged their salvation by thrashing the Hanseatic side 3-0 and making the most of their superior technical level against a team still evidently shaken – and perhaps even demotivated – by what happened two Sundays ago, with direct promotion fading away right on the edge of the finishing line. The match at the Mercedez Benz Arena was a match without a story, and it started immediately uphill for Hamburg, who were one goal down after the first minute of play. Mavropanos put the Swabians ahead, who failed to double their lead midway through the first half with Guirassy’s missed penalty. However, the Guinean player redeemed himself in the second half, scoring the 3-0 goal three minutes after Vagnoman’s. Suhonen’s sending-off half an hour from the end left his team-mates with 10 men on the pitch, but they did well to avoid what could have been a setback.
Stuttgart, salvation secured
The Hamburg coach does not want to give up. And in a press conference he said that his team still believe in a comeback that would be sensational, but frankly it is not clear how that can happen after what we have seen in the past week.
Stuttgart’s Mavropanos
The Hanseatics ended the Zweite Liga with the fifth-highest domestic performance, with a tally of 11 wins, three draws and as many defeats. The gap, however, appeared quite clear against a Stuttgart side that began to pick up steam from April onwards, right in conjunction with the arrival of the former Hoffenheim coach, losing only twice in eleven. The red and white team finished in third-last place, but remained unbeaten in the last three days: they drew with Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim and won at home to Mainz. Hoeness will confirm the same line-up as on Thursday, on the other hand Walter will have to do without the disqualified Suhonen and Vuskovic.
The prediction
Shoulders to the wall, Hamburg have no choice. Attack and hope to take the lead at least in the first half, and then spend every last drop of sweat and try everything in the second half. We could therefore see a decidedly lively match, perhaps even more so than in the first leg, with Stuttgart being able to afford to wait for their opponents and try to hit them on the counter-attacks. There will be no shortage of goals in a match where both teams will score at least one goal each.
The Hamburg v Stuttgart line-up in the match
- AMBURG (4-3-3): Heuer Fernandes; Heyer, David, Schonlau, Muheim; Meffert, Kittel, Reis; Jatta, Glatzel, Dompe.
- STOCCARDA (3-4-3): Müller; Mavropanos, Anton, Ito; Vagnoman, Karazor, Endo, Sosa; Millot, Guirassy, Führich.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-2
