HSV end goal drought but lose to late Frankfurt stunner
Hamburg - Despite dominating for the majority of the match, Hamburger SV succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Matchday 6 curtain-closer on Sunday evening.
Hamburg on top
Haris Seferovic grabbed his third of the season to open the scoring for the visitors just before to the break, but Nicolai Müller levelled matters early in the second period with Hamburg’s first goal of the season. With the game heading for a draw, Brazilian youngster Lucas Piazon struck a sensational free-kick late on to hand the Eagles victory.
Despite being rooted to the foot of the table going into the game, the hosts began the brighter of the two sides, playing with a self-belief lacking from their fixtures at the start of the campaign. Yet despite their dominance of possession Josef Zinnbauer’s troops struggled to penetrate a deep-lying Frankfurt backline, with Japan international Makoto Hasebe providing an excellent shield for the visiting back four, snuffing out Hamburg’s advances before they developed further.
Frankfurt’s attacks were rather less intricate: their gameplan initially appeared to consist of hitting long balls forward to take advantage of the height of strikers Alex Meier and Seferovic, but Hamburg centre-backs Johan Djourou and Cleber had little trouble dealing with that tactic. The latter very nearly opened the scoring at the other end of the pitch when he met Zoltan Steieber’s corner, but his close-range header was well saved by Frankfurt keeper Felix Wiedwald.
Seferovic strikes
HSV’s failure to score meant that they set an unwanted Bundesliga record for the longest period at the start of a season without hitting the net, ousting previous incumbents VfL Bochum, who went 474 minutes without scoring in the 1979/80 campaign. The hosts’ misery was compounded just before half time when Seferovic put the Eagles ahead against the run of play, side-footing in from ten yards out from Timothy Chandler’s right-wing cross.
Undeterred, Hamburg reemerged from the tunnel intent on rectifying the situation and once again kept hold of the ball inside Frankfurt’s half. They made small inroads as first Pierre-Michel Lasogga had a shot from the edge of the area that failed to seriously test Wiedwald, before Lewis Holtby rounded the Frankfurt custodian, only to hit the side netting from a tight angle.
Müller breaks HSV’s duck
Nicolai Müller showed them how it was done shortly afterwards though, slotting home under Wiedwald to bring Hamburg back on level terms and end their 507-minute goal drought in the 2014/15 campaign. The Imtech Arena erupted and with 47,000 fans pushing them forward, the hosts repeatedly surged towards the Frankfurt box in an attempt to take advantage of the partisan atmosphere.
Frankfurt coach Thomas Schaaf brought on livewire playmaker Takashi Inui in the closing stages, hoping the Japan international would add greater flexibility to his attack, but it was Hamburg who continued to control the game as the final whistle approached. Neverthless, the guests snatched a late winner out of the blue when substitute Piazon struck an unstoppable free-kick from distance into the top corner to leave Hamburg anchored to the bottom of the standings.
Line-ups and statistics
