Football: Baumgartner is recommended for EM

It was mostly thanks to Baumgartner’s show that the Hoffenheim team ended their series of seven winless games in their own stadium in Sinsheim with a 3-1 win over Cologne. The German specialist magazine “kicker” awarded him a grade of 1 and voted Waldviertel for the first time in the “Elf of the Day”. Baumgartner also involuntarily ensured that Cologne played ten from the 26th minute: Sebastiaan Bornauw saw red after a nasty kick against the man of the evening. Baumgartner’s goal was denied after video evidence. Master donor Munas Dabbur was sidelined.

“If you score two goals and put one on, then it was okay. It’s a shame that the third goal didn’t count, ”said Baumgartner with a wink after his gala performance. But the three points were much more important than the own statistics, according to the native of Waldviertel. “It was extremely important for all of us. Now it’s time to look ahead. It was an extremely important victory, ”said Baumgartner, whose name Hoffenheim fans can print free of charge on their jerseys until Friday.

Sloppy only privately

With the victory over the Cologne team, whom a hit by Baumgartner’s compatriot Florian Kainz did not really help that evening, the Hoffenheim team stayed close to the European Cup places. Coach Alfred Schreuder therefore did not hesitate to praise his match winner from Lower Austria. “He has incredible top scores after every game. It is amazing what he runs and works. Then he is intelligent, we know that, and just 20 years. I am very happy with him in the squad, ”said Schreuder.

Baumgartners teammates also know what they have in the offensive player. “He’s just a normal boy, decent, a full professional. Being normal in this world is the greatest compliment you can do, ”said goalkeeper Oliver Baumann. According to his own statement, his only weakness at the moment is a certain sloppiness. However, this only comes to light in private, where, to the detriment of his girlfriend, he doesn’t take it too seriously with tidying up, says Baumgartner: “I could be more orderly.”

Recommendation for Foda’s notebook

The 20-year-old, who was called by his colleague “Baumi”, had a decent career in the field. He has been wearing the Hoffenheim colors since 2017. A year later, the 20-year-old made it to the professionals, making his debut in the German Bundesliga in May 2019. Before that, the former youth player of SV Horn had been playing at the St. Pölten Academy for five years. He skipped a class in the BORG for competitive sports. His brother Dominik Baumgartner, who is three years older, is also a professional footballer and is currently awarded by the German second division club VfL Bochum to the WAC.

Even ÖFB team boss Foda did not miss the rise of Baumgartner. The German had already described the Hoffenheim director in early March as an “interesting player” who was under observation. The 13-time Under-21 international would have had a good chance of being part of the A-Team in the ÖFB test games planned for late March in Wales and against Turkey. However, like the entire first half of the international match, these had fallen victim to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the offensive man who grew up in St. Leonhard am Hornerwald is definitely an issue for the 2021 postponement of the European Championship. “The European Championship was and is a big goal of mine,” said Baumgartner a few weeks ago. The postponement of the tournament due to the pandemic to the coming year gives the Lower Austrian a new chance to jump on the EM train. “Now I have a year more to prove myself and to play in the foreground,” said Baumgartner.

Opportunity to rehabilitate

Baumgartner and Co. will compete at FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday – and the Austrian has something to make up for: In the last season game of 2018/2019, he saw yellow and red after 41 minutes and two fouls in his starting debut. Hoffenheim lost 2: 4 after a 2-0 lead and missed the Europa League participation. Julian Nagelsmann did not say goodbye to RB Leipzig with a sense of achievement.

The shooting star among the German coaches did not hold back at the time with criticism “A totally stupid yellow-red card, I won’t take a leaf out of my mouth, that just shouldn’t happen to you in the Bundesliga if you want to play at the same level” , Nagelsmann was annoyed at the time. The current Leipzig coach had also recognized Baumgartner’s potential: “This is a great opportunity for him to develop, it is always good to get a damper so early in his career.” A year later, Nagelsmann’s theory seems to be confirmed.

German Bundesliga, 28th round

Wednesday:

Hoffenheim – Cologne 3: 1 (1: 0)

Goals: Baumgartner (11th, 46th), Zuber (48th) and Kainz (60th)

Posch played through, Baumgartner replaced in the 77th minute, Grillitsch (Hoffenheim) in the 46th minute, Kainz (Cologne) in the 56th minute

Yellow / red card: Hübner (50th / Hoffenheim)

Red card: Bornauw (26./Köln)

Dusseldorf – Schalke 2-1 (0-0)

Goals: Hennings (63.), Karaman (68.) and McKennie (53.)

Stöger played through, Suttner (Düsseldorf) replaced in the 70th minute, Schöpf played through, Burgstaller replaced in the 74th minute, Gregoritsch (Schalke) came on in the 74th minute

Augsburg 0-0 Paderborn

Union Berlin – Mainz 1-1

Goals: Ingvartsen (33.) or Baku (13.)

Yellow / red card: Andrich (42nd / Union)

Trimmel (Union) played through, Onisiwo (Mainz) came on in the 63rd minute

Leipzig – Hertha BSC 2: 2 (1: 1)

Goals: Klostermann (24th), Schick (68th) or Grujic (9th), Piatek (82nd / penalty)

Yellow / red card: Halstenberg (63./Leipzig)

Sabitzer and Laimer played through, Wolf (Leipzig) came on in the 79th minute

Tuesday:

Dortmund 0-1 Bayern (0-1)

Goal: Kimmich (43.)

Alaba (Bayern) played through

Leverkusen 1-4 Wolfsburg (0-1)

Goals: Baumgartlinger (85.) or Pongracic (43., 75.), Arnold (64.), Steffen (67.)

Baumgartlinger and Dragovic (Leverkusen) came on in the 46th minute, Schlager (Wolfsburg) played through

Frankfurt – Freiburg 3: 3 (1: 1)

Goals: Silva (35.), Kamada (79.), Chandler (82.) or Grifo (28.), Petersen (67.), Höler (69.)

Ilsanker played through, Hinteregger (Frankfurt) in the 90th minute, Lienhart (Freiburg) in the 59th minute

Bremen – Moenchengladbach 0-0

Friedl (Bremen) and Lainer (Mönchengladbach) played through

Table:

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