The most memorable thing from every 2. Bundesliga rückrunde matchday (2024/25)
Not a conclusion I loved but the 2. Bundesliga continued to make the case for it being the best league in the world.
In multiple ways, there have been better seasons of the 2. Bundesliga than the one just gone. The quality of the league wasn’t the best, no teams excelled, and the teams who went up didn’t thrill me as a St. Pauli fan who was rooting for Elversberg’s promotion. That said, the Zweite is often one of, if not the best leagues in the world, and some of the matchdays in the second half of the season proved that. Granted, there were fewer power cuts, mind-boggling results, and 11-goal matches.
Matchday 18: Florian Flick smash leads to Nürnberg win
Nürnberg had a few dramatic moments in the hinrunde: their late winner against Ulm, their 8-3 win against Jahn Regensburg, or their collapse against Karlsruher. In the return game against the latter opponent, they were drawing 1-1 until Florian Flick would smash the ball into the top corner for a goal even manager Miroslav Klose would have been proud of.
Matchday 19: Magdeburg go top despite no home wins
Credit also goes to Fortuna Düsseldorf, who came from 2-0 down away at Karlsruher to win 3-2 after Dawid Kownacki got his second of the game in the 93rd minute. However, that doesn’t quite live up to whatever Magdeburg had been doing through the season. Christian Titz’s side were favourites against Eintracht Braunschweig. However, after taking the lead in the 5th minute, they did little to impress and drew 1-1. That result was enough to take them temporarily top despite the fact they hadn’t won at home all season. That shouldn’t have been possible at that point in the season. They did relinquish the lead later that weekend, but it was remarkable they had said lead to begin with.
Matchday 20: Magdeburg score five away at Schalke
Home really wasn’t where the heart is for Magdeburg this season. The week after that draw with Braunschweig, the Blau-Weiß had a much easier time at the Veltins Arena against fellow Blau-Weiß team Schalke. Martijn Kaars scored a hat-trick to give the guests a 3-0 lead, Philipp Hercher made it 4-0, and later Kaars would add a fourth of his own for his side’s fifth. Adrian Gantenbein had scored for the hosts earlier, and Janik Bachmann scored another consolation in added time, but the 5-2 win for Magdeburg was what they deserved.
Matchday 21: Julian Justvan’s 94th-minute winner seals 4-3 victory
Forget the fact they came 10th, Nürnberg were fascinating this season. As were Magdeburg based on the start of this article. FCM were back at home for this game, which is precisely why they didn’t win. Still, they could have avoided defeat if not for Julian Justvan’s 94th-minute smash from the edge of the box, facilitated by Magdeburg giving the number ten his own solar system of space to run into. This really was a continuation of the opening three games: Nürnberg scoring late, Magdeburg scoring lots … but still failing to win at home.
Matchday 22: Maurice Krattenmacher sent off for dive
MAGDEBURG WON A HOME GAME!!! 3-0 against Köln as well … because football makes sense and stuff. I could have gone for that, but more memorable was another Nürnberg moment. Klose’s men were at home to Ulm. Drawing 0-0 approaching the hour mark, SSV’s Maurice Krattenmacher went down in the box for a potential penalty. Problem number one: it was a clear dive. Problem number two: Krattenmacher was already on a yellow card. He was given his marching orders, and Der Club would go on to win 2-0.
Matchday 23: Isaac Lidberg puts on five-minute masterclass
Hey Look! A non Magdeburg or Nürnberg inclusion. Yay! Credit also goes to Julian Green’s curling finish against Braunschweig and Marvin Wanitzek’s long-range putt against, who else but Magdeburg. However, it’s Isaac Lidberg who takes the crown this week for his excellent start to the game against Schalke. In the third minute, she would cut inside and curl his finish past Justin Heekeren. Two minutes later, he would break through and chip the keeper for his second. That would be all she wrote. Darmstadt would win 2-0, and Schalke would still be bad.
Matchday 24: Elversberg put four past Hertha Berlin in first half
Back in December, Elversberg had enjoyed a one-week stint at the top of the league. Three straight defeats following that knocked them from the promotion places, and February had seen them start to build their promotion hopes back up. A 3-0 win against Darmstadt and a 2-0 win against Fürth were promising, unlike a 0-0 draw with Ulm, but it was their first game in March that made me sit up and pay attention. Like Union Berlin and Stuttgart in that infamous Bundesliga match, Elversberg needed just one half to score four against Union’s neighbours, Hertha. They were utterly dominant and deserved their 4-0 half-time lead. It was a lead they would hold in the second half as Horst Steffan and company would keep themselves right in the promotion chase. Still, for them, better was to come.
Matchday 25: Josh Knight gets 93rd-minute equaliser in Niedersachsenderby
The Lower Saxony Derby might not be as highly anticipated as Der Klassiker or the Revierderby (if we see that again any time soon), but it is just as dramatic. That was especially true of the closing stages of March’s encounter between Hannover and Eintracht Braunschweig. The game had not been a classic early on, but Lino Tempelmann had scored in the 77th minute to give Die Löwen the lead with an impressive long-range finish. That would have been the moment of the week if they had held on for victory, but in the 93rd minute, Josh Knight would rise highest from a corner to head in the equaliser and save a point for André Breitenreiter’s side. Not that it helped the manager save his job in the long term.
Matchday 26: Hannover score twice in two minutes to beat Schalke
Neither did this apparently. Hannover were 1-0 down away at Schalke thanks to a Christopher Antwi-Adjei goal in the first half. Even though Breitenreiter would be gone soon, Hannover hadn’t yet lost since his arrival, and the former Huddersfield boss had an undefeated run in the league that went back to 2014 (mostly because he hadn’t managed in the Zweite since then). Hannover didn’t want to lose those streaks, and they didn’t. In the 87th minute, Jannik Rochelt would turn in a shot that had deflected off the crossbar to make it 1-1. One minute later, Håvard Nielsen would head in a corner to win the game after Loris Karius had misjudged the flight of the ball. For Hannover, it was a great win. For Schalke, lessons had to be learned.
Matchday 27: Schalke score twice late on to draw with Fürth
And they seemingly did learn those lessons, as one week later, they would do something similar to Greuther Fürth. After taking the lead in the 9th minute, Schalke found themselves 3-1 down away at Sportpark Ronhof | Thomas Sommer. Entering the closing minutes of the game, there was no reason to think S04 would mount a comeback. However, in the 84th minute, Amin Younes would have a curling finish find the net, and in the 95th minute, Moussa Sylla would volley in from close range. The latter was initially disallowed for offside, but VAR overturned the call and Schalke got a point. The game ended up being a footnote for Kees van Wonderen, just as Hannover's win the week before was for André Breitenreiter, as neither manager made it to the end of the season (not that many others did, to be fair).
Matchday 28: Elversberg put six past Jahn Regensburg
Remember that I said “better was to come” for Elversberg, well this was it. Entering matchday 28, Elversberg were 7th but still easily in the race for promotion. They hosted bottom-of-the-league Jahn Regensburg, and it wasn’t a contest. Domination from beginning to end, and it probably doesn’t say a lot about Jahn Regensburg keeper Julian Pollersbeck that six of Elversberg’s seven shots on target found the net. More wins were to come, and by matchday 32, Horst Steffan’s side had locked down third place.
Matchday 29: Manuel Riemann becomes a winger
This is why I like writing these articles. When I come back to them years down the road, I get to remember moments like this. The game between Paderborn and Fortuna Düsseldorf was meant to be important and it was. Paderborn entered the game one point off the play-off place, whilst Fortuna were only a point behind them. It would be Daniel Thioune’s side who would pick up the win 2-1 to go level on points with third. However, the game would be better remembered for its closing stages. Before Paderborn had got a goal back to make it 2-1, Santiago Castaneda had been sent off for an elbow on an opponent. This meant Lukas Kwasniok’s side were down a man whilst trying to attack for the equaliser. Step forward Manuel Riemann, Paderborn’s keeper went forward and stayed there in the closing stages, essentially playing as a right-winger (not to be confused with the political position). It wasn’t enough though, as the hosts never managed to get that equaliser.
Matchday 30: Dennis Dressel’s volley not enough for Ulm
Not the best matchweek to pick a moment from. Ísak Bergmann Jóhannesson’s goal for Dusseldorf away at Elversberg was great, but not as good as Dennis Dressel’s goal against Hertha. Trailing 2-1, Ulm were given a corner which eventually looped outside of the box on a perfect trajectory for the former Hansa midfielder. He volleyed it as well as he could, and it found its way into the net for the equaliser. Unfortunately for Ulm, it wouldn’t be enough. With six minutes to go, a Hertha free kick played into the box would get a slight touch from Florian Niederlechner and go in for the winner. It also wasn’t enough for the season, as Ulm would be relegated a few weeks later.
Matchday 31: Düsseldorf come from 3-0 down to draw 3-3
If these articles prove anything, it’s that I love late (meaningful) goals and comebacks. Also, this article alone proves that I seemingly love Nürnberg. Writing really does teach you about yourself. Whilst this game didn’t have late drama per se, it did have a comeback, and it definitely had Nürnberg. It really was no contest through the opening 61 minutes between Fortuna Düsseldorf and Miroslav Klose’s side. Der Club had easily been the better side and led 3-0 after Julian Justvan had scored. Remember that he had a nightmare in the first game between the two sides. This game would also be bad for Justvan for different reasons. Between the 68th and 78th minutes, Fortuna would score three. Shinta Appelkamp’s blast into the top corner was both a fantastic way to finish the comeback and great to hear Mark Bevan’s voice break.
Matchday 32: Münster beat promotion-chasing Magdeburg 5-0
We’ve not heard from Magdeburg in a while, and since the last inclusion had Nürnberg, we might as well check in with the other darlings of the opening stages of this article. With three games to go, Magdeburg had their fate in their own hands. They were three points behind HSV in second, but a point clear of Elversberg in fourth. Win all three remaining games and they would, at the very least, be in the play-off. Of those games, their home game against Preußen Münster was the easiest.
They lost 5-0. Football, eh. Elversberg won two days later, and Magdeburg’s season would end the week after with a loss to Paderborn.
Matchday 33: HSV score six to seal promotion
It goes without saying that I didn’t like this moment one bit. But, I promise neutrality (or something close to that anyway), and it’s hard to debate that this merits inclusion. Following Magdeburg’s 5-0 loss to Münster, HSV’s 4-0 win away at Darmstadt on Saturday put them four clear with two to go. They had been collapsing in the weeks prior, as is tradition, but everyone else had been collapsing as well, meaning they had held on to a promotion place. On matchday 33, Hamburger hosted Ulm, and they wouldn’t make the same mistake Magdeburg had made. Their 6-1 win sealed promotion back to the Bundesliga for the first time since 2018. Great for them, terrible for me.
Matchday 34: HSV collapse and Köln steal title
There’s the HSV I know and (don’t) love. Hamburger entered the last day of the season leading the league. One win would bring the side the title their city neighbours had lifted the season before. They lost 3-2 to Fürth. At the same time, Köln were hosting Kaiserslautern. They didn’t have the same issues as they coasted to a 4-0 win. Two weeks prior, Effzeh had made the controversial move to sack Gerhard Struber and bring in former boss Freidhelm Funkel. Despite that not being a smart move with the side three points clear of third with two to go, Funkel did what Struber probably would have done and sealed an instant return to the top flight.