Hamburger SV beat ten-man Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 after Kou Itakura's 49th-minute red card
Miro Muheim, Shafiq Nandja and Albert Grønbaek scored for Hamburg at the Volksparkstadion, Robin Hack's equaliser for Gladbach undone once Itakura walked just after half-time.
Hamburger SV beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 at the Volksparkstadion on Friday night, a Bundesliga matchday 9 opener that turned on a single moment two minutes into the second half. Miro Muheim had put the hosts ahead early, Robin Hack had levelled it right before the break, and then Kou Itakura was sent off — and Hamburg scored twice more against ten men to take the points.
The 49th minute changes everything
Itakura was booked in the 38th minute and sent off in the 49th, barely two minutes after the restart, with the score still locked at 1-1. Gladbach had to play the rest of the match a man short, and Hamburg made it count: Shafiq Nandja restored the lead at 59', and Albert Grønbaek — who had set up Nandja's goal — scored the third himself at 70'. Two goals from one dismissal, and the contest was effectively over with twenty minutes still to play.
Match facts
- 11' — Miro Muheim (Hamburger SV), assist Albert Sambi Lokonga
- 44' — Robin Hack (Borussia Mönchengladbach), assist Joe Scally
- 49' — Kou Itakura (Borussia Mönchengladbach) sent off, second booking
- 59' — Shafiq Nandja (Hamburger SV), assist Albert Grønbaek
- 70' — Albert Grønbaek (Hamburger SV)
| Stat | Hamburger SV | Borussia Mönchengladbach |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 61.7% | 38.3% |
| Shots on target | 9 | 6 |
| Passes completed | 464 (83.9%) | 250 (74.4%) |
| Corners | 5 | 3 |
| Fouls conceded | 6 | 16 |
| Offsides | 1 | 1 |
| Yellow cards | 1 | 1 |
| Red cards | 0 | 1 |
How it unfolded
Muheim's opener came early, Sambi Lokonga picking him out inside the box in the 11th minute for the home side's first goal in front of their own crowd since the Köln win back in September. Gladbach responded well enough, Joe Scally releasing Robin Hack to beat Daniel Heuer Fernandes just before half-time and send the sides in level at 1-1.
Whatever Gladbach had planned for the second half unravelled within two minutes of it starting. Itakura, already on a yellow from the first half, picked up a second and was off, and Hamburg spent the rest of the match playing against ten men on a pitch with more room than they had seen all night. Nandja's finish on 59 minutes put them back in front, and Grønbaek — the provider a few minutes earlier — got on the scoresheet himself in the 70th, turning a tight game into a comfortable one. Fouls told their own story: Gladbach committed 16 to Hamburg's 6, the price of defending for 40-odd minutes a man light.
Hamburg end a three-match losing streak
This was overdue. Hamburg had lost their previous three in all competitions — away at Paderborn, out of the DFB-Pokal to Eintracht Frankfurt, then beaten 1-3 by that same Frankfurt side again in the league just a week later. Beyond that recent dip, the season for a newly-promoted club has mostly been one of damage limitation: heavy early defeats to Mainz (0-5) and RB Leipzig (0-5) either side of the Dortmund opener, with the wins coming in tighter, scrappier games against Köln, Hoffenheim and Stuttgart. This was their biggest winning margin of the campaign so far.
Line-ups
Hamburg lined up in a 3-5-2, Gladbach in a 3-4-2-1.
- Hamburger SV: Daniel Heuer Fernandes; Sebastiaan Bornauw, Warmed Omari, Shafiq Nandja; Miro Muheim, Martin Adeline, Albert Sambi Lokonga, David Møller Wolfe, Zakaria El Ouahdi; Albert Grønbaek, Patson Daka
- Borussia Mönchengladbach: Daniel Batz; Philipp Sander, Fabio Chiarodia, Kou Itakura; Florian Neuhaus, Zento Uno, Lukas Ullrich, Joe Scally; Shuto Machino, Wael Mohya; Robin Hack
Gladbach: one win in nine
For Borussia Mönchengladbach, the maths are getting uncomfortable. This was their seventh defeat in nine Bundesliga games, and their only victory all season remains the 3-2 win away at VfB Stuttgart in October — a single result propping up an otherwise one-sided ledger. They conceded three goals in a single match for the fourth time this season, and the sending-off that decided this one is exactly the kind of moment a side fighting to stay up can't afford to keep gifting the opposition.
What's next
The win lifts Hamburger SV to 8th in the Bundesliga table on 12 points, above Eintracht Frankfurt and clear of the bottom half for the first time in weeks. Borussia Mönchengladbach stay bottom of the table on 4 points, inside the automatic relegation places, with matchday 9 still being completed around them.
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