HSV wins 3:2 at Hoffenheim, but captain Remberg faces possible cruciate ligament injury

The match in Sinsheim

Hamburger SV won 3:2 at TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday in the fifth Bundesliga matchday, their second win of the season after three straight defeats to open it. Yussuf Poulsen gave the visitors the lead in the 12th minute, when Nicolas Capaldo's shot hit the post and bounced to him. Hoffenheim turned the game around with an own goal by Sebastiaan Bornauw in first-half stoppage time (45+6) and a goal by Bambasé Conté in the 53rd minute. Bernardo was sent off for the hosts in the 65th minute for repeated fouling, leaving Hoffenheim with ten men. Terem Moffi equalised in the 83rd minute, and Miro Muheim struck the winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time, hitting a corner that had been cleared short low into the bottom left corner.

Remberg's injury

Nicolai Remberg, the 26-year-old captain and a fixture in the Hamburg starting line-up since the club returned to the Bundesliga, went off in the 41st minute. He had hurt himself in a challenge with Conté, without any direct contact from the opponent, and Muheim came on in his place. Polzin said after the match:

It looks absolutely terrible, there is definitely suspicion of a cruciate ligament injury. We have to wait for the more detailed examination. But it has hit him pretty hard.

Hamburg were already without Albert Grönbaek, Patson Daka, Bakery Jatta, Bilal Nadir and Zakaria El Ouahdi, who was ill, so losing their captain added to the squad problems. Polzin tied the comeback to Remberg's standing in the dressing room:

Rambo is the perfect example of a leader, the way we imagine boys. That would hit us hard. The boys did it for him in the second half too.

Muheim and the comeback

The Zurich-born left-back played his first league minutes of the season after adductor problems and a training setback, which also kept him out of the Swiss national team camp. He had only come on because of Remberg's injury, and his 90th-minute volley decided a game that Hoffenheim had led 2:1 at one stage. Sky expert Patrick Helmes said the win had been dearly bought. The result lifted Hamburg to six points from five matchdays, while Hoffenheim's crisis deepened.

Other results on the matchday

Union Berlin beat newly promoted SV Elversberg 1:0 for their first Bundesliga win of the season, with Livan Burcu scoring in the 80th minute from a corner after coming on as a substitute. Mainz lost 3:4 at home to Leverkusen in a high-scoring match under Urs Fischer. Stuttgart won 2:0 at Paderborn without Leonidas Stergiou.