Leader Holstein Kiel botched the start of the second half of the 2nd Bundesliga on Friday evening (January 19, 2024). The Schleswig-Holstein team lost 2-1 at home to second-to-last Eintracht Braunschweig after a 1-0 lead.
Steven Skrzybski gave Kiel the lead after eleven minutes with a shot from 58 meters. But the Lower Saxony team turned the game in their favor through Fabio Kaufmann (43′) and Rayan Philippe (56′). Holstein remains at 35 points on matchday 18 and could lose its top position on Saturday to FC St. Pauli (33), who host 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Kiel had won all of their last five games before the winter break.
“We played extremely slowly, we played sloppily, and we had technical errors that we wouldn’t have made otherwise,” said Kiels Skrzybski in an interview with NDR. He could be happy about his very nice goal, but I would have preferred to take the three points.
Sportschau, January 19, 2024 9:44 p.m
Thanks to the victory, Braunschweig has at least temporarily caught up with third-from-bottom Hansa Rostock in the table with 17 points. “It doesn’t just feel good that we won. I’m also proud of the way we won,” Eintracht goalscorer Kaufmann told NDR.
Skrzybski takes the measure from 58 meters and scores
Surprisingly, it started without a minute’s silence for the late Franz Beckenbauer and Hertha President Kay Bernstein. In the first twelve minutes, however, there was no support from two Holstein fan clubs, who were protesting against the investor plans of the German Football League (DFL). Strictly speaking, the acoustic restraint was already over a minute earlier. And for good reason: Skrzybski caused huge enthusiasm in the stadium with an artificial shot from 58 meters into the visitors’ goal.
Sportschau, January 19, 2024 9:49 p.m
This was preceded by a corner for Lower Saxony. Kiel’s Tom Rothe headed the ball from his own penalty area into Skrzybski’s run on the right wing, and the 31-year-old shot just before the halfway line. The ball sailed over BTSV keeper Ron-Thorben Hoffmann, who had previously moved up and was now hastily rushing back, into the goal – 1-0 for KSV (11th). For Skrzybski it was the second dream goal of this kind this season. At the beginning of September he became Kiel’s match winner in Paderborn with a shot from 40 meters.
Kaufmann equalizes for Braunschweig after a counterattack
Braunschweig didn’t hide and had one or two decent opportunities, but for a long time there was a lack of consistency. That changed in the 43rd minute: This time a corner turned into a boomerang for Kiel. After Finn Porath’s shot was blocked, the guests quickly switched gears. Philippe moved away down the right flank and passed it into the middle at the edge of the penalty area, where Kaufmann finished to make it 1-1. This also meant the break.
Sportschau, January 19, 2024 9:38 p.m
Philippe makes Eintracht fans cheer
Eleven minutes after the restart, the relegation candidate had turned the game around. After a long throw-in from Kaufmann and three headers from the guests in the Holstein penalty area, the ball finally found its way to Philippe, who scored with a foot to make it 2-1 for Eintracht (56th). Shortly afterwards, things almost got better for the second-to-last team in the table: Anton Donkor narrowly missed the Kiel goal with his header (60′).
Sportschau, January 19, 2024 9:54 p.m
Eintracht was even closer to scoring their third goal than Kiel was to equalizing. Philippe almost managed to shoot the ball through the legs of Holstein keeper Timon Weiner (72′). A little later, the agile Philippe put the ball into the hosts’ goal, but due to a very slight offside position, the goal was denied recognition via video evidence (80th).
Kiel’s Becker misses the top chance
For a long time little came from Holstein. In the first minute of stoppage time, the best chance to equalize was there: Timo Becker, however, failed with a header from four meters to Hoffmann. Just like Shuto Machino with his foot shortly afterwards. In the end, Eintracht managed to maintain a narrow lead over time; it was their third three-pointer in a row in the second division. On the other hand, Kiel’s winning streak has broken.