by The last time Hamburger SV and St Pauli met at the Volksparkstadion in April, their roles were reversed. HSV were favorites for promotion and the rival was hot on their heels. St Pauli had been called “HSV-Jäger” (“HSV hunters”) by the German press, having improved their form so spectacularly that they had gone from relegation candidates to six points behind their derby rivals, in the third place. A win would have reduced the gap to three and HSV, wild-eyed and exhausted, could well have been trapped.
However, in the end, the hunter became the hunted. Manolis Saliakas, St Pauli’s galloping full-back, opened the scoring before walking away with his hands behind his ears, but HSV scored three goals either side of half-time and, although the visitors later recovered, the score ended 4-4. 3. . When Jonas David, now on loan at Hansa Rostock, scored the equalizer from 25 meters, Tim Walter, the HSV coach, could not contain his relief and took to the field along with most of the coaching staff and his substitutes. At the end of time, enveloped in a thick fog by the flares and smoke bombs in the stands, he and his team jumped to the rhythm of the ultras’ drums and soaked up the adulation of more than 50,000 fans bathed in blue . .
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When the two teams meet at the Millerntor-Stadion on Friday night, it will be St Pauli who will strive to evade the jaws on their heels. It wasn’t meant to be that way, at least not where HSV was concerned. On the final day of last season, after HSV won 1-0 at SV Sandhausen and rose to second place, the last automatic promotion spot, it looked like the fallen giants would finally climb back into the Bundesliga, where they passed an uninterrupted season. 55 years before their harrowing relegation in 2018. HSV fans celebrated on the pitch, as did Walter before raising his hands in a futile attempt to undo fate, and the Sandhausen stadium announcer even congratulated them on their success . What they couldn’t know was that Heidenheim, trailing 2-1 at Jahn Regensburg before added time, would score twice to overtake HSV and condemn them to a promotion playoff, in which they would be swept by VfB Stuttgart.
If St Pauli fans were left stone-faced after the derby defeat, HSV’s tragic end to the season at least gave them something to smile about. In fact, they haven’t stopped smiling since: St Pauli, a team in top form in the league after last season’s winter break, have carried that momentum into this campaign and are unbeaten at the top of the table. HSV is second, three points behind. The chase has begun.
St Pauli coach Fabian Hürzeler has earned a reputation as one of Germany’s most promising tacticians. The 30-year-old former Bayern Munich youth coach is by far the youngest coach in the division, so it is inevitable to compare him with Julian Nagelsmann. He has cited Nagelsmann as an influence, as both spent their formative years in Bavaria and followed similar paths to the bench. Hürzeler focused on coaching after injuries and other setbacks during his playing career and was promoted by St Pauli from the assistant role when Timo Schultz was sacked last December.
St Pauli were nicknamed “Freibeuter der Liga” (“Buccaneers of the League”) when they cemented their counterculture status in the 1980s and 1990s, adopting the Jolly Roger as their unofficial emblem, and have lived up to the nickname once upon a time. lower Hürzeler. They place a big emphasis on possession, but they also rely on their marauding wingers and full-backs to overload the forward areas. Dapo Afolayan, signed from Bolton in January, hit the ground running in the 2. Bundesliga and hasn’t looked back, the lightning about him spreading everywhere and the infield supported by Saliakas behind him. Up front, former Werder Bremen striker Johannes Eggestein adds aerial threat, delivering crosses from Afolayan and Elias Saad down either flank.
The biggest improvement from last season has come on defense. Although St Pauli often change shape during a match, Hürzeler tends to start in a 3-4-3 with Karol Mets, Eric Smith and Hauke Wahl at the back. The Mets, signed on loan in January and then permanently in the summer, bring steel, Wahl, another summer addition, is the short-ball outlet, and Smith, a defensive midfielder by trade, mixes in a passing quarterback role long with increasing runs towards the field. He is in the middle of the park, defending with the front foot while the others anchor the line. St Pauli has the tightest defense in the league with only 11 goals conceded. The equation is completed by Marcel Hartel, the midfield set piece specialist who has achieved a great scoring streak, and Jackson Irvine, the ‘box to box’ player adored by fans for taking the bus to go to training, his social activism and, like the club, being linked to the alternative music scene.
HSV also focus on possession, although they have been less consistent in imposing themselves on rivals. Their efforts to build from the back are characterized by the way Daniel Heuer Fernandes, their goalkeeper, attacks from his line, providing additional ball to his defenders, albeit at no less risk. With Bakery Jatta, their most influential player, suspended, they will be even more reliant on Robert Glatzel, the former Cardiff striker, who leads the 2. Bundesliga’s scoring charts with 10. Glatzel has been directly involved in just under half of the HSV goals. , having also added three assists thanks to his tendency to go deeper and orchestrate the game. “[The derby] “It’s a game like no other,” he said this week. “It has its own rules.”
There is no doubt that sparks will fly – literally – in the stands. St Pauli and HSV are often said to be worlds apart, but their fans have more in common than they would like to admit: Hamburg has a lively lower league scene and fans of the two clubs often get along well in the stands.
St Pauli fans are famous for their left-wing politics, but there is no simple political binary between the clubs: HSV fans come from all walks of life and all areas of the city. Perhaps the best way to understand the difference is between the mainstream and the countercurrent: HSV, six-time German champions and former European Cup winners for whom commercialism is a reality, versus St Pauli, the pillars of the second division that have never won a major tournament. trophy and who, with their historical links to the anarchist, punk and squatter movements, fiercely debate commercial influence at every turn, even as the club has become a global brand.
However, there is a deep antipathy among club ultras, which often manifests itself in large pre-match street marches and in banners mocking each other during matches. This will create an exciting atmosphere inside the Millerntor, where St Pauli have not lost a derby for over four years. Underdogs by nature, they now find themselves in the unfamiliar position of belittling their rivals. “There are no favorites in this match,” Hürzeler said when asked if St Pauli were the favourites. “The truth is in the field.”
