TSG 1899 Hoffenheim were able to report a complete success on Saturday before the Bundesliga game started at 3:30 p.m. The Sinsheim Arena was sold out with 30,150 spectators. No wonder, as the opponent was Borussia Dortmund, traditionally the second best team in the Bundesliga behind the now distant record champions FC Bayern Munich.
Since the Baden-Württemberg summit against VfB Stuttgart in Sinsheim will follow next Saturday, from a pecuniary perspective the second payday is approaching in the otherwise sometimes manageably full stadium. In order to keep their own clientele happy, the first home win of the season - albeit against a renowned opponent - was urgently desired. Otherwise there is a risk of a shaky start after the unexpected 2-3 away defeat against 1. FC Köln a week ago.
See F.A.Z. articles more often in your search results
F.A.Z. prefer on Google
TSG coach Christian Ilzer was correspondingly demanding about the first home appearance of the 2026/27 season. “These opponents are coming at just the right time,” he said when looking at the fifth-placed team’s tests of maturity last season against Dortmund and Stuttgart.
Flowery, as he sometimes speaks, the Styrian native called on his professionals to “put the wind tunnel at full throttle straight away in order to raise awareness of what still needs to be done.” Ilzer's Dortmund colleague Niko Kovac, a football pragmatist with experience, had only one core message for his professionals after the comfortable 2-0 home win against Hamburger SV: "We're going to Sinsheim to win."
However, there was no sign of this for a long time after Hoffenheim had taken a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Leon Avdullahu and Tim Lemperle - and then had to watch in complete surprise as Borussia turned the game around with goals from Serhou Guirassy (61'), Fabio Silva (66') and Albian Hajdari's own goal (87'). At the final whistle it was 3:2 (0:1) for BVB – a comeback that was anything but a given against Hoffenheim, who had been strong for a long time.
The unfortunate losers seemed correspondingly dejected. Goalscorer Avdullahu said understandably: "We are all totally disappointed. It was a top game for us until the 60th minute. We have to learn from that. Don't become careless, but give it full throttle." Of course, the conclusion of the strong Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel was completely different: "It wasn't a good game for us until the first goal. But in the end we have the quality to win games like that."
For much of the first half, out of sheer mutual respect, both teams searched for the ignition key without finding it. So the audience experienced a long, uneventful game in which there were more spoilsports than creative minds at work.
The most dangerous was the shot from Hoffenheim's new left winger Adam Daghim, which Kobel parried (30th) and Adam Hložek's header (33rd), which Kobel fended off just as confidently. To do this, the strangely passive Borussia had to replace their left central defender Filippo Mane, who was suffering from a muscular injury (32nd). For him, the left rail player Daniel Svensson moved back a position in a duel that picked up speed towards the end of the first half, at least on Hoffenheim's side.
Somewhat surprisingly, defensive midfielder Avdulluahu, who had not previously been noticed in this discipline, scored the first goal of the day in the 45th minute - with a curling shot from 22 meters into the left corner of the goal. There it was finally: the first highlight of a long, tough game. It was the reward for the more active efforts of the North Baden team in a duel without any significant BVB accents.
Then the wait for BVB began in the second half: the black and yellow were now challenged. However, the game initially continued to determine TSG. If Gregor Kobel hadn't had such a good day, Tim Lemperle's shot on goal (49') would have gone in instead of being blocked by the Swiss national goalkeeper. The Hoffenheim team now remained consistently in attack mode and increased the lead to 2-0 thanks to Lemperle's shot deflected by BVB central defender Waldemar Anton (54th).
Guirassy initiates the turnaround
Nevertheless, BVB still had enough time to turn the messy game around. Goal scorer Guirassy (61st) took advantage of this with a lob past national goalkeeper Oliver Baumann to make it 2-1. Now there was at least something like tension again in the game, which was mostly dominated by TSG. Four minutes after the 1:2, Dortmund's second center forward Silva, who had recently been substituted, took advantage of his first opportunity and scored from close range to make it 2:2 (66').
Nothing to me, nothing to you, a boring game had turned into an exciting duel with cup character because Hoffenheim didn't have defense at the top of their agenda either. That's exactly why two offensive greats were substituted: the long-injured club icon Andrej Kramarić, who has often scored against BVB, and the offensive midfielder Bambase Conté, who returned from Elversberg (72nd). But they did nothing.
Instead, something happened that fit this crazy game that seemed unfinished on both sides: BVB attacked again, so that substitute Ethan Nwaneri also risked a shot at Baumann's goal. And lo and behold: The ball, deflected by Hoffenheim defender Hajdari, landed in the Hoffenheim net to make it 3-2 for Dortmund (87th) - a result that only ever-optimistic BVB fans had expected after Hoffenheim's deserved 2-0 lead.
Voilà: Borussia still delivered in a crazy game and then celebrated their coup with the fans after an extremely mediocre performance for a long time. Football is so unpredictable and sometimes unfair.
