HSV beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 as Itakura's red card leaves Gladbach bottom

Muheim's strike and Gladbach's reply

Hamburger SV took the lead in the 11th minute when Miro Muheim struck from about 30 metres out, from a half-left position, and Norddeutscher Rundfunk measured the shot at 129 km/h. Gladbach keeper Daniel Batz had just won a one-on-one against Patson Daka, but he was powerless moments later. Borussia kept pushing forward, with Zento Uno and Florian Neuhaus both going close before the break. Gladbach had taken ten shots at goal in the first 25 minutes. Joe Scally equalised in the 44th minute, when his effort from about 20 metres was deflected off Robin Hack's knee and went in.

Itakura's sending-off shapes the second half

Ko Itakura was shown a second yellow card in the 49th minute, just after the restart, and Gladbach then played with ten men for almost the entire second half. Itakura had come into the back three for Daiki Hashioka, who was sidelined with muscle problems. Blessin had made only that one change from the goalless draw against SC Paderborn the previous week, although Kevin Diks and Franck Honorat returned to the squad. Batz made six saves, but he was beaten from close range for the second goal.

Second-half goals settle the result

Shafiq Nandja, a club academy product, scored his first Bundesliga goal in the 60th minute to make it 2-1. Albert Grönbaek added the third in the 70th minute with a shot from 27 metres, according to NDR. HSV coach Merlin Polzin had Sebastiaan Bornauw back in the starting lineup in place of Jordan Torunarigha, and Patson Daka started ahead of Terem Moffi. Gladbach's 17-year-old Wael Mohya, nominated by national team coach Jürgen Klopp for Nations League matches against Serbia and the Netherlands, ran down the left but did not have a decisive impact. The 57,000 spectators at a sold-out Volksparkstadion saw a lively match, with chances at both ends.

Blessin's pre-match message

Before kick-off, Alexander Blessin told Sky that Gladbach wanted to carry their recent momentum into the game. Gladbach had not taken three points from the Volkspark in 13 years, and they had collected their first four points of the season in their two previous league games, at Stuttgart and against Paderborn.

“We want to take the momentum with us, it is an important game and we need the points.”

It was Blessin's first return to the Volkspark as Gladbach coach, and he had won the Hamburg city derby there as St. Pauli head coach in the previous season.

Table position and next fixture

Gladbach remain bottom with four points after nine matchdays. HSV, on 12 points, climbed from 15th to eighth, a position NDR says they held at least until Saturday, 7 November. The win gives Hamburg some breathing room in the relegation battle. Their next match is the north derby at Werder Bremen on 22 November, after the international break, with kick-off at 17:30.