Schützenhilfe from Düsseldorf – now it’s done for Schalke
Stand: 06.05.2022
The fight at the top of the table in the 2nd division continues to gain in drama. Due to Darmstadt 98’s mistake, the first decision can already be made on Saturday. Fortuna Düsseldorf gave Schalke 04 the opportunity to make the return to the Bundesliga perfect early.
DSV Darmstadt 98, second in the table, suffered a serious setback in the promotion race of the 2nd division and have to worry about their return to the Bundesliga a week before the end of the season. On Friday evening, the Hessians lost 2-1 (0-2) to Fortuna Düsseldorf, who have now been undefeated in twelve games, and can fall back to fourth place. “Most of the boys are crying because they want a total dream,” said coach Torsten Lieberknecht after the final whistle. This means that FC Schalke 04 can complete promotion to the Bundesliga early on Saturday with a win against FC St. Pauli.
In front of 30,000 spectators in the Düsseldorf Arena, Emmanuel Iyhoha scored his first competitive goal for Fortuna (3rd minute) and Matthias Zimmermann (10th) for the Rhinelanders, who improved to ninth place with 44 points. Tobias Kempe scored for the guests (60th). Yellow-red for Klaus Gjasula and red for Daniel Ginczek (88th).
The Darmstadt eleven, who started in the same formation after the 6-0 win against Aue, were caught short after the start and conceded two early goals against the brisk playing team from Düsseldorf. In the 30th minute, the guests were lucky when Fortuna’s winger Felix Klaus hit the post. “In the second half, however, we put in an amazing performance and played Fortuna against the wall,” said Darmstadt coach Lieberknecht. After Kempe converted a penalty kick (60th), his team still had a few chances, but were unable to turn the game around.
SC Paderborn – SV Sandhausen 2:0 (1:0)
SC Paderborn stayed in the top third of the table at least until Sunday. East Westphalia, who have not been defeated for six games, won 2-0 (1-0) against SV Sandhausen on Friday evening and thus took sixth place in the table for the first time in the second half of the season. The guests, who were previously undefeated in eight away games in a row, remain in 15th place, but had already secured their place in the class beforehand.
In front of 7719 spectators in the Benteler Arena, Florent Muslija scored the opening goal for Paderborn in the 27th minute with a remarkable long-range shot from 25 meters into the top right corner of the goal. Phlipp Klement increased the lead to 2-0 (60th) with a clever free kick.
