In the early morning of May 4, Beijing time, a key match in the 32nd round of the German Second League was played by Hamburg at home against St. Pauli. In the end, Hamburg withstood the pressure and beat St. Pauli 1-0 to win the local derby, while retaining their hopes of promotion to next season's Bundesliga.
Compared to St. Pauli, Hamburg is famous, having won the Champions League and the European Cup Winners' Cup in the last century, as well as six German top league titles, including three Bundesliga titles. However, the team was relegated from the Bundesliga in 2017/18 and has been in the Bundesliga ever since.
According to the Bundesliga promotion rules, the top two teams in the table will advance to next season's Bundesliga, while the third-placed teams will participate in the relegation play-offs.
Before the game, St. Pauli accumulated 63 points and ranked first, the worst win from direct promotion, Hamburg is different, 4 points behind the promotion play-offs, and another loss will declare the failure of the first division in advance, and will send the city rival St. Pauli to be promoted to the Bundesliga next season in advance. The two sides met for the first time this season, when St. Pauli drew 2-2 at home to Hamburg.
This time at home to St. Pauli, Hamburg withstood the pressure. In the first half, the two sides failed to score, and in the second half, the two teams continued to attack, and Hamburg broke the deadlock in the final moments, and in the 85th minute, Muheim assisted Gratzel to score a goal, and then in stoppage time, Hamburg qualified for a penalty, but did not score, and finally still beat St. Pauli 1-0.
It can be said that this 1-0 victory directly saved Hamburg, because the third-ranked Dusseldorf defeated Nuremberg 3-1 at home, reaching 59 points, and after Hamburg's victory over St. Pauli, the points reached 55 points, and the two sides continued to maintain a gap of 4 points, with only 2 rounds left, Hamburg retained its promotion hopes.
In the final two rounds, Hamburg only need to win all of them to still hope to qualify for the promotion play-offs, because Fortuna Dusseldorf will face Holstein Kiel in second place in the next round, and in the final round against Magdeburg, who are in the middle of the table, it is not unlikely that they will only get one point in the remaining two rounds. In this way, Hamburg has a chance to overtake Fortuna Dusseldorf and take third place in the standings.
According to statistics, Hamburg was ranked fourth in the first three seasons after relegation, and the last two seasons were ranked third in a row, which is always only one step away from returning to the Bundesliga.