The stadium announcer is already calling him Lionel

Sometimes it’s better not to listen to the captain. Noah Katterbach from Hamburger SV had this experience in the 3-1 win against 1. FC Magdeburg. “I told him once or twice not to dribble forward all the time,” HSV captain Sebastian Schonlau admitted with a laugh.

Katterbach ignored this advice, started dribbling from the halfway line, passed three opponents, completed his run with a stepover and slammed the ball into the net to make it 2-0. “After I scored my goal, he came to me and said: ‘I’ll never tell you not to dribble again,’” said Katterbach in an equally good mood SPORT1.

At halftime, the stadium announcer even jokingly spoke of “Lionel Katterbach” – in reference to the Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, who became an eight-time world footballer, not least because of such dribbling. The 23-year-old is a long way from such honors. But Katterbach is the big winner of the last three match days.

As a reminder: he spent the first six league games entirely on the bench. In the 2-2 draw against SC Paderborn, he was suddenly in the starting line-up and prepared a goal. The full-back was also put back into the starting lineup against Düsseldorf (3-0) and Magdeburg. His dream goal crowned this strong development.

When the final whistle sounded, coach Steffen Baumgart cheered euphorically and fell into Katterbach’s arms. “I think Noah and I have our own story,” says Baumgart. “It’s nice when someone trains, trains, trains, actually plays a minor role, then comes in and performs like that. That makes me happy as a coach.”

This “own story” that Baumgart addresses leads back to 1. FC Köln. Katterbach was trained there as a professional and was part of the extended starting eleven – until Baumgart came. “I got to know him in a position where I had Jonas Hector,” says Baumgart, who at the time moved the former national player from midfield back to the left-back position.

There was no more room for Katterbach, who won the Fritz Walter Gold Medal twice and was considered one of Germany’s greatest talents. The result: He only played one Bundesliga game under Baumgart.

“Noah had to deal with that first,” says Baumgart. The consequence was that Katterbach initially went on loan to FC Basel, later moved to HSV and suffered a torn cruciate ligament there. As soon as he had healed, Baumgart was suddenly his trainer in Hamburg.

Baumgart notes, however, that Katterbach has “made personal development. Here in Hamburg I see him as a player who always gives it his all, regardless of his situation – whether he’s playing, not playing, in the squad or not. That’s what you want as a coach.”

Katterbach also perceives the relationship with the coach differently today. “I do think that our relationship has matured relatively here in Hamburg. “That’s also because my development as a person has matured relatively well,” says Katterbach.

It is not a given that a trainer rewards good training performance. “Football is often very political. “You can do a lot and still not make it to your working hours,” he says from experience. This is no longer the case with Baumgart: “He sees that I don’t let myself down in training or during my missions and just keep pushing. I’m happy that he rewards me for that.”

Katterbach also found a calling away from football. He founded the fashion label ‘Missing Piece’ together with his girlfriend. “This is from both of us. But of course she is the brains behind the whole thing because we just want to try to build something together besides football,” he recently revealed on the HSV YouTube channel. “It’s really cool for me to do something besides football,” he said.

“She trained in fashion design in Switzerland and is passionate about it. I had the idea for a long time that we should do this. Let’s see what it all turns out to be. We’re trying to step on the gas.”

This attitude led to success at HSV.