Ihlas Bebou seemed to single-handedly shoot TSG Hoffenheim to victory against Darmstadt 98. But the lilies had a lot of courage – and Tim Skarke. The Lilies fought for a 3:3 (2:1) in Sinsheim on Tuesday evening (December 19, 2023).
Hoffenheim took the lead after Klaus Gjasula caught TSG attacker Ihlas Bebou off his feet in the penalty area and Andrej Kramaric scored with a cool penalty shot (13th). Ten minutes later, Luca Pfeiffer equalized with his first first division goal, and a little later Bebou rounded 98 goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen again and put Hoffenheim back in front (28th). Darmstadt didn’t let up and managed to equalize again through Tim Skarke (57th).
Bebou crowned his excellent performance that evening with his second goal (66th), but Skarke was clearly on a par with the Hoffenheim player in terms of gala, who also scored his second goal in the final phase (85th).
Darmstadt fought hard to win a point, but it didn’t lead to them leaving the bottom of the table. Lieberknecht’s team has been waiting for a win for nine games now. Coach Pellegrino Matarazzo’s team improved to sixth place in the table, at least until Wednesday.
Sports show, December 19, 2023 10:32 p.m
Lieberknecht is proud of his team
“When you’re behind three times and come back three times, you can really say – it’s a big word – that you’re proud”said Darmstadt coach Torsten Lieberknecht after the game at the Sportschau microphone, “Today the boys rewarded themselves because they implemented the things we planned to do tactically well.” And Hoffenheim’s double goalscorer said fairly: “Darmstadt did a bit better and that’s why they deserved to get a point here.”
Lilies very different from a designated relegator
Despite all the injury concerns that are currently plaguing SV 98, the bottom team from Darmstadt went into the game with momentum and self-confidence. With Fabian Holland, Fraser Hornby, Braydon Manu, Marvin Mehlem, Fabian Nürnberger, Aaron Seydel, Oscar Vilhelmsson and Christoph Zimmermann, eight professionals were missing. Torsten Lieberknecht’s team actually had more possession of the ball, but Hoffenheim acted cleverly and relied on transition moments.
And that’s how it turned out: After a quickly executed free kick, Bebou stormed past Schuh, even tunneled through the keeper and was then hit by the rushing Gjasula in the visitors’ 16. Clearly, for both referee Frank Willenborg and Kramaric.
Pfeiffer is finally celebrating in the Bundesliga
After numerous goals in the 2nd Bundesliga, Pfeiffer scored his first goal in the top flight: on a pass from Bartol Franjić from the left, he kept his slip clean and poked past Oliver Baumann into the goal to equalize. A little later, however, Hoffenheim’s transition moments, part 2: Again Bebou stormed up on his shoes, wobbled the keeper again and put the ball in to make it 2-1.
After the break the drama was repeated: Tim Skarke made it a draw again before Bebou pushed the ball over the line for the second time.
Sportschau, December 19, 2023 10:34 p.m
The guests never gave up in the final phase. Ozan Kabak had an early Christmas present for the guests: a cross pass in his own half landed at Pfeiffer, who fed Skarke. His right-footed shot hit the near corner flat and unstoppable.
Bavaria – Hoffenheim, Darmstadt – BVB
Both teams have a lot of work to do next matchday: 1899 Hoffenheim opens the 17th matchday on January 12th (8:30 p.m.) at Bayern Munich, Darmstadt will face Borussia Dortmund the next day in an exposed game time (1/13/24, 6:30 p.m.).
