By Achim Wittich
Sinsheim. On October 23, 2018, TSG Hoffenheim and Olympique Lyon met in the Champions League in Sinsheim. The 3:3 in a spectacular game is still fondly remembered by many fans of the Kraichgau club. A little more than six years later there was no comparable football festival, but at 2:2 (1:0) there was another draw and at least at the end there was great drama.
“We’re not giving away any competition, we want to get something tomorrow,” TSG coach Pellegrino Matarazzo announced on Wednesday.
Somewhat surprisingly, he called 18-year-old Mannheim native Max Moerstedt into the starting line-up, and compared to the 0-2 loss against St. Pauli, Kevin Akpoguma and Umut Tohumcu came into play from the start. Adam Hložek and Marius Bülter sat out for the time being, Stanley Nsoki had to miss the game due to muscular problems.
Tohumcu celebrated
In the 9th minute, Oliver Baumann had to take action for the first time. However, Georges Mikautadze’s header was no problem for the national goalkeeper.
Then Andrej Kramaric, a two-time goalscorer in 2018, almost scored again in the replay when Lyon goalkeeper Rémy Descamps failed to clear in front of the penalty area. Duje Caleta-Car just prevented Hoffenheim from taking the lead (11th).
It was actually clear that the village club “wanted to get something” from the international show. “Hoffe” certainly tried to speed up the action, but nothing worthwhile came out of it.
After almost half an hour, the completely free Kramaric weakly received the ball on the halfway line, otherwise he would have been rushed. At least the Croatian was able to serve Moerstedt, but the world and European champions with the U17 failed due to Descamps (29th). Moerstedt justified his effort and showed a strong performance.
The French did far too little and waited almost exclusively for counterattacks. However, once they surrendered, they did not play them out consistently. It was Kramaric time again. But Descams parried his artificial shot in an artful flight (43′).
A lead for 1899 would have been okay at the break, the pendulum of chances swung in the Bundesliga side’s favor.
Things continued on both sides without any personnel changes. But with the first goal on the cool November evening. The eye-catching Tom Bischof fed Valentin Gendrey, who finished in the middle (47th). European Cup cheers surged through the stadium.
Moerstedt had the chance to make it 2-0 when he missed just wide to the left (53′). That would have crowned his achievement.
Lyon’s coach Pierre Sage reacted, made four changes in one go after an hour and brought in established players with a lot of offensive strength. Now the guests stepped on the accelerator and moved forward vehemently. Just five minutes after coming on, Vicinius Abner equalized (66′).
Then things got dramatic in stoppage time: Lacazette (90th+3) scored the supposed winning goal for Olympique (90th+3). But Hoffenheim struck back again. Umut Tohumcu made it 2-2 (90+5).
TSG now have five points after four matchdays in the Europa League. That’s better than the eight points from nine Bundesliga games.
Hoffenheim: Baumann – Chaves, Stach, Akpoguma – Gendrey, Tohumcu, Grillitsch, Prass (67. Kaderabek) – Bischof (75. Hlozek) – Moerstedt (75. Tabakovic), Kramaric (67.Bülter)
Lyon: Descamps – Kumbedi (61. Maitland-Niles), Clinton, Caleta-Car, Abner – Tessmann, Omari, Caqueret (82. Tolisso) – Orban (61. Lacazette), Mikautadse (61. Cherki), Benrahma (61. Fofana)
Referee: Alexandru Barbu (Romanian)
Viewers: 18.227
Tore: 1:0 Gendrey (47.), 1:1 Vinicius Abner (66.), 1:2 Lacazette (90.+3), 2:2 Tohumcu (90.+5)
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