Dream of promotion over: Magdeburg loses in Paderborn

1. FC Magdeburg miss out on relegation to the Bundesliga. In Paderborn, the Elbe city team lost 2-1 (1-1) despite taking the lead in front of 15,000 spectators. Martijn Kaars (15th, penalty) put Magdeburg in front, Calvin Brackelmann (41st) and Felix Götze (61st) turned the game around. Magdeburg are now in sixth place with 50 points.

"We're very disappointed because we had high hopes," said Patric Pfeiffer. The first half hour was good, then the break came. "I think the defeat will make us even stronger," said Pfeiffer. "We could have actually put the game to bed in the first 30 minutes," said coach Christian Titz and his captain Dominik Reimann summarized: "We can be proud that we were up there for so long."

Compared to the surprising defeat against Münster, coach Christian Titz made two changes. Bryan Teixeira replaced Livan Burcu (infection) and Pfeiffer moved into central defense - Marcus Mathisen played up front in defensive midfield. Mohammed El Hankouri was back in the squad for the first time since his injury, but initially sat on the bench.

Sudden VAR intervention

Both teams looked to create chances from the build-up play, with Magdeburg appearing to work their way into the game better. The VAR then intervened out of nowhere - Paderborn's Tjark Scheller was alleged to have touched the ball with his hand at a Magdeburg corner. Martijn Kaars converted safely (15'). FCM then controlled the game, partly because Paderborn repeatedly lost possession early on.

After 31 minutes, Alexander Nollenberger fell in the SCP penalty area, but the penalty was not awarded - wrongly, as the slow motion showed. However, the VAR did not intervene this time. At the other end, first Sven Michel had a promising shot wide (37'), then Scheller was denied by Pfeiffer (39') and finally Brackelmann scored with the help of the crossbar (41'). Before that, Michel had too much space on the left.

Paderborn's constant pressure leads to a goal

Titz brought on Alexander Ahl-Holmström for the hapless Teixeira and the Swede missed his first FCM goal less than a minute later, heading into Manuel Riemann's arms from close range. But that was the last Magdeburg action for a long time. Paderborn established themselves in the Magdeburg penalty area and came closer and closer with finishes and corners. Marcus Mathisen cleared a corner off the line (59'), but Götze scored from the subsequent throw-in to take the lead. Paderborn still had chances after that, but FCM had run out of steam.

Magdeburg were only in the game for just under thirty minutes, but were then no longer able to withstand the pressure from the home side. In the end, however, Magdeburg enjoyed the most successful season in their history in Bundesliga 2, even before the final game against Düsseldorf.