St. Pauli claimed the Bundesliga 2 title thanks to a late comeback at Wehen Wiesbaden, who will battle to stay up via the play-off. - © Boris Streubel/Bundesliga

2. Bundesliga

Bundesliga 2, Matchday 34 overview: St. Pauli crowned champions, Hansa Rostock relegated

20.05.2024

A late Danel Sinani strike helped St. Pauli to complete a comeback against Wehen Wiesbaden to be crowned second-division champions, but there was despair for Hansa Rostock, who couldn't beat the drop.

Wehen Wiesbaden 1-2 St Pauli
Goals: 1-0 Kovačević 10', 1-1 Albers 51', 1-2 Sinani 82'
Red card: Döring 56'

The Boys in Brown celebrated promotion as second-division champions but they were forced to work hard against a Wiesbaden team determined to avoid relegation. Indeed, when the hosts hit the front through Franko Kovačević, Pauli were playing catch-up while keeping one eye on Holstein Kiel, a point behind the Hamburg-based side in the standings and intent on taking the trophy on the final day. As it was, Andreas Albers equalised to settle visiting nerves and when Nils Döring was ordered off for Wiesbaden shortly afterwards, the way was open for Danel Sinani to nip in and secure victory - and the championship - for the Kiezkickers with just eight minutes left. The hosts, meanwhile, avoided automatic relegation but will contest a play-off against Jahn Regensburg to decide their second-tier fate.

Hannover 1-2 Holstein Kiel
Goals: 0-1 Holtby 26', 0-2 Rothe 32', 1-2 Schaub 78'

Kiel coudn't have done more in their bid to win the Bundesliga 2 title, but although Pauli would prevail in that accomplishment on the last day, none of the shine was taken off the visitors' automatic promotion here. Lewis Holtby's accurate header from Tom Rothe's centre got Marcel Rapp's men off to the perfect start, and the newly promoted side were celebrating again soon aferwards when Rothe's opportunistic strike from a tight angle beat Ron-Robert Zieler. The home side reduced the arrears via a Louis Schaub header but Kiel hung on to claim one more win in what has been an unforgettable campaign for The Storks.

Hansa Rostock 1-2 Paderborn
Goals: 1-0 Fröling 48', 1-1 Platte 72', 1-2 Grimaldi 87'

The hosts were left crestfallen after a missed opportunity to avoid automatic relegation saw Mersad Selimbegović's men go down to the third tier following a sixth straight loss. With relegation rivals Wiesbaden - the last team Hansa managed to beat - also losing, the day could have ended differently at the Ostseestadion, especially after Nils Fröling took advantage of a goalkeeping error to put the hosts 1-0 ahead. Yet, one more mistake at the opposite end from custodian Markus Kolke allowed Felix Platte to equalise. Wnd when Adriano Grimaldi headed in with three minutes to play, Rostock were left to despair.

Fortuna Düsseldorf 3-2 Magdeburg
Goals: 1-0 Tzolis 6’, 2-0 Tzolis 20’, 2-1 Teixeira 31’, 2-2 Krempicki 47’, 3-2 Tzolis 88’

Fortuna clearly have bigger fish to fry with a Bundesliga play-off to come, and coach Daniel Thioune did the obvious and made eight changes in preparation for their season decider. That should have presented three points for Magdeburg, but instead the home team showed how much depth they have and gained a big confidence boost before taking on Bochum over two legs. One of the few regulars not rested, Christos Tzolis, had his 20th and 21st goals of the season just 20 minutes into the game, and it looked like Magdeburg were going to be taken to pieces by Thioune’s B-team. Instead, the away side got one back before the break and then equalised straight out of the dressing room through Connor Krempicki. The game was then full of life, but it was Tzolis who capitalised with two minutes to play, claiming the three points with his 22nd of the season, tying him at the top of the scoring charts with Hamburg’s Robert Glatzel and Hertha Berlin’s Haris Tabaković. Watch out Bochum.

Greuther Fürth 2-0 Schalke
Goals: 1-0 Hrgota 67', 2-0 Lemperle 82'

Fürth signed off at the Sportpark Ronhof with a victory in front of their own fans against a Schalke side that had to be content with a mid-table finish. The Cloverleaves were ahead in the 67th minute thanks to their experienced striker Branimir Hrgota, the 31-year-old pouncing on a rebound to fire home his 11th goal of the season. Alexander Zorniger's side doubled their lead a quarter of an hour later when Tim Lemperle finished in style to see Fürth finish in eighth place.

Kaiserslautern 5-0 Eintracht Braunschweig
Goals: 1-0 Ritter 36’, 2-0 Ritter 48’, 3-0 Hanslik 53’, 4-0 Ritter 69’, 5-0 Opoku 76’
Red card: Toure 57'

Both safe in the Bundesliga 2 after victories on Matchday 33, it was clearly home side Kaiserslautern who felt the biggest weight lifted from their shoulders, and that’s good news as they still have one game to play - the DFB Cup final against Bayer Leverkusen on 25 May. With that in mind, coach Friedhelm Funkel, who will be leaving after that finale, made five changes and his players delivered exactly what was needed ahead of one of the biggest days in their modern history. Perhaps due to the shuffle, Braunschweig actually started as the better side and it was Lautern’s Julian Krahl who managed to keep things scoreless. Teammate Marlon Ritter then capitalised on things in the 36th minute for a 1-0 lead at the break. Any thoughts that the second half would be similarly level were put to bed when Ritter added his second three minutes after the restart, and then Daniel Hanslik made it three. FCK had more adversity to come, though, with Almamy Touré sent off for hitting out at Jannis Nikolaou just before the hour mark. Even reduced to 10 men, the hosts kept going, and added another two with Ritter’s hat-trick goal his 10th of the season and then a final effort from Aaron Opoku making it the perfect preparation for the trip to Berlin.

Hamburg 4-1 Nuremberg
Goals: 1-0 Glatzel 6’, 1-1 Schleimer 16’, 2-1 Poreba 22’, 3-1 Glatzel 28’, 4-1 Glatzel 90+5’ (pen.)

The season certainly didn’t end the way Hamburg wanted as they missed out on a top-three finish, but they still managed to give the Volksparkstadion the send off it deserved to close out the campaign. Nuremberg had confirmed safety the previous week, so coach Cristian Fiel decided to debut young shot-stopper Jan Reichert, but it didn’t quite work out. It took only six minutes for HSV top scorer Glatzel to give the keeper a welcome to forget as he capitalised on a disasterous Iván Márquez Álvarez back pass. Nuremberg responded well with a number of big chances and Lukas Schleimer put one away 10 minutes later. However, it was then Hamburg’s turn to react and they quickly fought back with two goals before the break through Lukasz Poreba and then Glatzel’s second. A thrilling first half died off in the second 45, and all that was left to play for was the top scorer crown, something Glatzel secured from the spot in stoppage time, with his hat-trick goal making it 22 for the season, leaving him tied with Tabaković and Tzolis for 2023/24.

Osnabrück 2-1 Hertha Berlin
Goals: 0-1 Dárdai 5', 1-1 Wiemann 44', 2-1 Makridis 76'

Relegated Osnabrück went down fighting to spoil Pál Dárdai's last game in charge of Hertha, who took the lead here through the outgoing coach's son, Palkó, in the fifth minute. The Old Lady could only finish as high as eighth had they held on, but when Niklas Wiemann headed in an equaliser from a corner, Hertha heads dropped. Charalambos Makridis's deflected effort 14 minutes from time sealed bottom-placed Osnabrück's sixth win of the season.

Elversberg 0-3 Karlsruhe
Goals: 0-1 Zivzivadze 52', 0-2 Heise 56', 0-3 Stindl 79'

Lars Stindl brought the curtain down on a memorable career with the final goal in a game where there was little to play for. Prior to kick-off, Elversberg were already guaranteed their second-division status while Karlsruhe knew they would finish just off the pace in terms of a promotion push. It meant that proceedings only came to life in the second half, when a visiting flurry contained strikes from Budu Zivzivadze, Philip Heise and a Stindl header scored seconds after the 35-year-old former Germany international came on as a substitute.