FIRST TEAM
09/19/2009

1899 Hoffenheim showed great character to come back from two goals down against Gladbach and win by four goals to two

Gladbach put the visitors under heaps of pressure in the first half and deservedly took a two-goal lead, but Hoffenheim came back into the match in the second period and began to assert their attacking game on the hosts when Brazilian star Maicosuel entered the fray. Still a goal down going into the final five minutes, Hoffenheim went for the win and were rewarded with three late goals from Maicosuel, Obasi and Ba.

Match report

Hoffenheim were certainly slow out of the blocks in the first half and found themselves 2-0 down after 17 minutes. The first goal came after 10 minutes through Gladbach's Venezuelan international Arango, before Israeli striker Roberto Collauti doubled their lead 7 minutes later, punishing goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand after he could only parry Bobadilla's drive.

But crucially, Hoffenheim were almost instantly able to respond on 22 minutes through Bosnian international Sejad Salihovic, his free kick from the right deceiving Belgian goalkeeper Logan Bailly who probably should have done better.

But the real fireworks were left for Hoffenheim's incredible comeback in the second half. 1899 had several chances early on in the second half, through Obasi and Salihovic but to name a few, but had to wait until the 86th minute to grab a deserved equaliser through second half Brazilian substitute Maicosuel, having been set up by the influential Salihovic.

And there was more late drama to follow. Just three minutes later Chinedu Obasi got on the end of a Carlos Eduardo cross to put Hoffenheim in the lead for the first time in the game, to spark the away fans into a frenzy. Hoffenheim even had time to get a fourth goal, Demba Ba wrapping up a famous comeback with a goal in the first minute of stoppage time.

This victory meant that Hoffenheim are now up to fourth in the Bundesliga, just two points off of league leaders Hamburger SV.

Quotes

Karim Matmour: We can?t allow things like that to happen. I can?t explain it ? we had plenty of chances to win the match.

Marcel Meeuwis: Hoffenheim played well but we should have got the win. We defended poorly and conceded as a result. Hoffenheim simply wanted it more than us in the end.

Demba Ba: I don?t think we were the best team today but in the end we got the three points. We were hungrier than Gladbach.

Logan Bailly: It?s hard to find the words for what happened here today. We lost our focus towards the end. If you forget about the first goal we conceded, I think I can be pretty happy with my comeback.

Timo Hildebrand: In the second half we played really well. Two individual mistakes from Luiz Gustavo and myself led to the goals we conceded. Still, all credit to the team for coming back to win the match.

Sejad Salihovic: We were poor in the first half. We didn?t mark our opponents closely enough, but we got a stern talking to at the break and it obviously had the desired effect as we put them under lots of pressure in the second half.

Marvin Compper: We didn?t turn up for the first 20 minutes and luckily we managed to pull ourselves back into the game. We were rewarded for our efforts in the end but it was a Jekyll and Hyde performance.

Michael Frontzeck: It?s a bitter pill to swallow. We did really well in the first half but we were leading until late on and the team has to shoulder the blame for that. Still, Hoffenheim put in a mighty effort and their quality showed through in the end. Playing against a team as good as Hoffenheim really saps your energy.

Ralf Rangnick: Obviously we?re happy with the result. It was a game of two halves. We played very poorly in the first half and deservedly went behind. Still, it was no coincidence that we got back into the game ? we created the chances in that five-minute turnaround. Turning the match around the way we did obviously requires a bit of luck, but the team really wanted it.

 

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