When Hamburger SV and St Pauli last met, in April at the Volksparkstadion, their roles were reversed. HSV were favorites for promotion and their opponents were breathing down their necks. St Pauli were dubbed ‘HSV-Jäger’ (‘HSV Hunters’) by the German press as they had turned around their form so spectacularly that they had gone from relegation candidates to six points behind their derby rivals in third place. A win would have closed the gap to three and HSV, wild-eyed and exhausted, could well have fallen into a trap.
But in the end the hunter became the hunted. Manolis Saliakas, St. Pauli’s galloping full-back, opened the scoring before driving away with his hands behind his ears, but HSV scored three goals either side of half-time and although the visitors rallied late, it finished 4-3 . . When Jonas David, now on loan at Hansa Rostock, thundered in the equalizer from 25 yards, Tim Walter, the HSV coach, could not contain his relief and jumped onto the field along with most of his coaching staff and substitutes. Full-time, shrouded in a thick fog from the flares and smoke bombs in the stands, he and his team jumped to the rat-a-tat of the ultras’ drums and immersed themselves in the admiration of more than 50,000 fans bathed in blue.
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When the teams meet at Millerntor Stadium on Friday evening, St. Pauli will be the ones straining to avoid the jaws nipping at their heels. It wasn’t meant to be that way, at least not as far as HSV is concerned. On the final day of last season, after HSV had won 1-0 at SV Sandhausen and climbed to second place, the last automatic promotion place, it looked like the fallen giants would finally climb back into the Bundesliga, where they would uninterrupted period. 55 years before their harrowing relegation in 2018. HSV fans celebrated on the pitch, as did Walter before raising his hands in a vain attempt to avoid fate, and Sandhausen’s stadium announcer even congratulated them on their success. What they couldn’t have known was that after trailing 2-1 to Jahn Regensburg going into stoppage time, Heidenheim would score twice to leapfrog HSV and condemn them to a promotion play-off, in which they would be defeated by VfB Stuttgart would be swept aside.
If St. Pauli fans were left stone-faced after the derby defeat, HSV’s tragicomic end to the season at least gave them something to laugh about. In fact, they haven’t stopped smiling since: St. Pauli, the best team in the league after last season’s winter break, has carried that momentum into this season and sits undefeated at the top of the table. HSV is three points behind in second place. The hunt has begun.
St Pauli manager Fabian Hürzeler has built a reputation as one of the most promising tacticians in Germany. At 30, the former Bayern Munich youth player is by far the youngest coach in the division, inevitably drawing comparisons to Julian Nagelsmann. He cites Nagelsmann as an influence, as they both spent their formative years in Bavaria and followed similar paths to the dugout. Hürzeler focused on coaching after injuries and other setbacks during his playing career and was promoted by St Pauli from the position of assistant when Timo Schultz was sacked last December.
St Pauli were nicknamed ‘Freibeuter der Liga’ (‘Buccaneers of the League’) when they cemented their counter-culture status in the 1980s and 1990s by adopting the Jolly Roger as their unofficial emblem, and once again lived up to this name under Hürzeler. He places a heavy emphasis on possession, but they also rely on their marauding wingers and full-backs to overload the forward areas. Dapo Afolayan, acquired from Bolton in January, started in the 2. Bundesliga and has not looked back. His lightning runs wide and the infield is supported by Saliakas behind him. Up front, Johannes Eggestein, the former Werder Bremen striker, adds an aerial threat, thundering in crosses from Afolayan and Elias Saad on either flank.
The biggest improvement compared to last season is in the defense. Although St Pauli often changes shape during a match, Hürzeler usually starts with a 3-4-3 with Karol Mets, Eric Smith and Hauke Wahl at the back. Mets, who was loaned in January and then permanently in the summer, brings steel, Wahl, another summer signing, is the outlet for the short ball, and Smith, a defensive midfielder by trade, combines a role as quarterback with long passes and quick runs in the base. in the middle of the park, defending on the front foot while the others anchor the line. St Pauli has the tightest defense in the competition with only eleven goals conceded. Completing the equation are Marcel Hartel, the midfield set-piece specialist who has found a rich vein of goalscoring form, and Jackson Irvine, the box-to-box raider beloved by fans for taking the bus to training , its social activism and, like the club, its involvement in the alternative music scene.
HSV are also possession-oriented, although they have been less consistent in imposing themselves on opponents. Their efforts to build from the back are marked by the way Daniel Heuer Fernandes, their goalkeeper, charges off his line and gives his defenders an extra ball, although this poses no small risk. With Bakery Jatta, their most influential wide player, suspended, they will be even more reliant on former Cardiff striker Robert Glatzel, who tops the 2. Bundesliga scoring charts with 10. Glatzel has been directly involved in just under half of HSV’s goals. , having also racked up three assists thanks to his tendency to drop deep and orchestrate play. “[The derby] is a game like no other,” he said this week. “It has its own rules.”
There is little doubt that sparks will fly – literally – in the stands. It’s often said that St Pauli and HSV are worlds apart, but their fans have more in common than they might like to admit: Hamburg has a vibrant lower league scene and supporters of the two clubs often rub shoulders on the terraces .
St. Pauli fans are known for their left-wing politics, but there is no simple political binary between the clubs: HSV fans come from all walks of life and all parts of the city. The difference is perhaps best understood as that between mainstream and counter-current: HSV, the six-time German champions and former European Cup winner for whom commerce is a fact of life, versus St. Pauli, the second division mainstay who has never won a major has achieved victory. trophy and who, with their historic links to the anarchist, punk and squatter movements, fiercely debate commercial influence at every opportunity, even as the club has become a global brand.
However, there is a deep antipathy between club ultras, which often manifests itself in large pre-match street marches and in banners mocking each other during matches. That will create a fiery atmosphere in the Millerntor, where St Pauli has not lost a derby for more than four years. They are underdogs by nature and now find themselves in the unfamiliar position of looking down on their rivals. “There are no favorites in this match,” said Hürzeler, when asked if St Pauli was the leader. “The truth is on the field.”