Home » News » Scandalous showdown: Lautern celebrates return to the second division, Dresden fans cause a scandal

Scandalous showdown: Lautern celebrates return to the second division, Dresden fans cause a scandal

Kaiserslautern’s players celebrate, Dresden fans ignite: Because firecrackers flew onto the pitch from the dynamo block, the game was interrupted for several minutes in overtime. − Photo: dpa

Kaiserslautern’s players celebrate, Dresden fans ignite: Because firecrackers flew onto the pitch from the dynamo block, the game was interrupted for several minutes in overtime. − Photo: dpa

Dirk Schuster happily hugged the FCK players, then the entire 1. FC Kaiserslautern team ran to the 3,000 fans who had traveled with them and danced wildly: The Red Devils made their long-awaited return to the second division perfect in what ended up being a scandalous showdown and Dynamo Dresden shot into the 3rd division. Kaiserslautern won the relegation second leg at Zweitliga-16. with 2:0 (0:0) and celebrated the rise in the fourth attempt.

“Kaiserslautern in the second division – that’s a great feeling. With the 2-0 win, the lid was on. The boys played a fantastic season,” said Schuster on Sat.1. The FCK coach took over the post from Marco Antwerpen just before the relegation. “Marco has also made his contribution,” said Schuster.

At the end, numerous firecrackers were thrown onto the square.  − Photo: dpa

At the end, numerous firecrackers were thrown onto the square. − Photo: dpa

At the end, numerous firecrackers were thrown onto the square. − Photo: dpa

Daniel Hanslik (59) and Philipp Hercher (90+2) scored the immensely important goals for the four-time champions from the Palatinate, who had drawn 0-0 in the first leg at Betzenberg four days earlier. FCK fans sang “Never again 3rd division” after the final whistle, while there was dead silence in Dresden’s K-Block. Shortly before, there was even a threat of the game being abandoned due to flying fireworks.

The long-time grandiose support in the Rudolf Harbig Stadium, which was filled with 30,530 spectators, did not help the Dresden team without a win in 2022 to avoid immediate relegation to the 3rd division. After the 2-0 in added time, the Dynamo supporters caused an interruption of several minutes, and there were also two fires in the fan block. The teams stayed on the pitch during this break and discussed with referee Daniel Siebert, who decided against stopping the game.

Because of the problem fans in both fan camps, the police were on duty with over 1000 officers. The focus was on a strict separation of fans, also on arrival and departure. A police helicopter was deployed and, as a precaution, water cannons were also placed in the operational area. The city initially remained peaceful, but pyrotechnics were constantly being ignited in the stadium. A firecracker even flew from the FCK fan block to a spectator tier with Dresden supporters.

The “loud atmosphere” is “what the boys need,” Dynamo’s coach Guerino Capretti said in advance. With the frenetic crowd behind them, Dresden wanted to take “a bigger risk” than in the first leg – but both teams initially implemented this plan.

A racy duel developed with early chances for both sides. For the hosts, Christoph Daferner (11th) and the conspicuous Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer (14th, 45th) failed in the first half. At FCK Terrence Boyd (11th) and Philipp Hercher (26th) had the 1-0 on their feet.

Even after the change of sides, both teams fought doggedly for every centimeter, which meant that a lot fell by the wayside in terms of play. The guests were a bit more dangerous offensively – and that was rewarded: After Boyd failed with a powerful header (58th), Hanslik did better a minute later and scored the lead with a low shot.

The hosts responded with furious attacks and a little later Patrick Weihrauch had a great chance to equalize (63′). On the other side Boyd (83rd) missed the huge chance to make it 2-0 in a hectic final phase before Hercher made everything clear. − sid

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.