After a year it’s over again: Darmstadt 98 is the first to be relegated from the Bundesliga. After the 1-0 (0-0) win on Sunday (April 28, 2024), 1. FC Heidenheim can even dream a little about Europe.
A year ago, 1. FC Heidenheim and Darmstadt 98 made it into the Bundesliga together, and the duel against each other now confirmed that they will part ways again after this season. Because after the 0-1 defeat, the Darmstadt team can no longer be saved three match days before the end of the season. The gap to 1. FSV Mainz 05 in 16th place is eleven points.
31st matchday arrow right To the live ticker: Darmstadt 98 – 1. FC Heidenheim arrow right
“It’s very difficult for me, it hurts a lot to be relegated in front of our home fans,” said midfielder Tobias Kempe in the Sportschau interview. “The team threw everything into it again and we received great support. I’m proud to be part of this club. It’s incredibly bitter, but we’ll move on.”
This means that the “Lilien’s” third Bundesliga season will end with their second relegation after 2016/17. On the other hand, the Heidenheimers can plan almost immediately for their second Bundesliga season. Coach Frank Schmidt’s team, in tenth place, is nine points ahead of Mainz and can only theoretically be overtaken by the five teams placed behind them. It is even possible to qualify for the European Cup.
“Lilies” defy the hopeless situation
It had been apparent for a long time that Darmstadt would be relegated; the promoted team has been bottom of the table since matchday 14. The fact that the team wants to say goodbye with a positive final impression was most recently seen in the 2-0 win at 1. FC Köln – and that continued against Heidenheim.
Coach Torsten Lieberknecht’s team started extremely courageously, but Fabian Nürnberger missed the first good chance from the edge of the penalty area and aimed a little too high (5th). Not much more happened offensively, but the Darmstadt team didn’t let much of anything go wrong defensively either. Patrick Mainka forced “Lilien” goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen to make his only save in the first half (26th).
Müller strong in the Heidenheimer goal
His counterpart Kevin Müller was asked after just twelve seconds after the break. Tim Skarke tried a volley from 20 meters and posed problems for the Heidenheim keeper, but he was still able to fend off the ball (46′). The same thing also applied to Schuhen on the other side after Tim Kleindienst tried from 18 meters (58th).
From a similar distance it became even more dangerous when Nürnberger took the free kick. The ball moved with great speed and precision towards the corner of the Heidenheim goal, but Müller was able to defuse the shot with a flying save (66th). After the feat, he stood up and made a gesture that was supposed to say: “No one can get past me today.”
Heidenheim moved up to seventh place
The impression was also confirmed when Müller quickly raised his hand after a shot from Oscar Vilhelmsson from close range and directed the ball over his goal (76th). And it didn’t change until the final whistle, also because Darmstadt could no longer assert itself decisively on offense. And because Heidenheim also refrained from taking any risks, an uneventful final phase almost sealed the goalless draw.
Matthies Hohm, Sportschau, April 28, 2024 9:27 p.m
Because everything pointed to this, but only until the 90th minute. Then Heidenheim countered boldly again. Nikola Dovedan took advantage of a serious defensive mistake by the hosts and scored the only goal of the evening. Thanks to the late victory, the promoted team not only has nothing to do with the relegation battle, but is also only three points behind seventh place, which could still be enough to take part in the Conference League.
“It’s extremely important for us that we stick with it and get as many points as possible. Because we don’t have anything to give away,” said Müller in the Sportschau interview. And coach Schmidt added in view of the impending relegation: “It’s something incredible for us, many people didn’t believe we could do it. But we did it and we’ll deserve to play in the Bundesliga next season too.”
Darmstadt in Wolfsburg, Heidenheim against Mainz 05
Darmstadt 98 will play against VfL Wolfsburg on the next match day (Saturday 05/04/24, 3:30 p.m.), 1. FC Heidenheim will host Mainz 05 (Sunday 05/05/24, 7:30 p.m.).