Captain van der Vaart is Hamburg's hero
Hamburg - Hamburg captain Rafael van der Vaart inspired the north German side to a 2-1 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Holding on
The Dutchman has looked transformed since being given the captain’s armband by coach Thorsten Fink last weekend, and he gave Hamburg the lead in novel fashion - with his first ever headed goal in the Bundesliga.
Six minutes later, the midfielder struck again, intelligently tucking his shot through the legs of Fabian Giefer from close range to put HSV on course for victory with only 20 minutes played. Düsseldorf hauled themselves back into the game before half time when Schahin, on as a replacement for the injured Genki Omae, caught the Hamburg defence napping to head in from Axel Bellinghausen’s free-kick.
Heung Min Son wasted a good chance to restore Hamburg’s two-goal advantage early in the second half with a tame finish just wide of the right-hand post. It almost proved costly, as Düsseldorf mounted a late assault on the Hamburg goal.
Martin Latka was their danger man, missing two efforts as the hosts packed men behind the ball to defend their lead. They succeeded to end a run of three home games without a win, leaving Düsseldorf eight games since their last victory and just three points above the relegation zone.
Line-ups and statistics
