2. Bundesliga: Karlsruhe and Dresden repeat six-goal thriller | OneFootball

Hans Christian Bernat saw his fifth yellow card of the season in Karlsruhe's win in Magdeburg, which meant that Robin Himmelmann was making his first appearance since his four games for Kaiserslautern in the 2023/24 season.

The 37-year-old goalkeeper nearly played 200 2. Bundesliga games in his career, but that long gap where he had to wait for this opportunity came to bite him early in this one. His mistimed pass in the second minute was intercepted by Alexander Rossipal. The left-back then located the run of his captain, Niklas Hauptmann.

Himmelmann should’ve easily saved Hauptmann’s tame effort, but it went straight through his hands as the visitors took an early lead. Luckily for the shot-stopper who was once in Schalke’s ranks, his opposite number leveled the playing field twenty minutes later.

Tim Schreiber conceded a penalty-kick for a foul on Christoph Kobald as Dresden failed to properly clear Marvin Wanitzek’s corner-kick. Karlsruhe's captain took the responsibility as he made no mistake from 12 yards to score in four successive games for the first time in his career.

However, Dresden were back in front five minutes later as Ben Bobzien’s slight touch from Jason Ceka’s cross deceived Himmelmann. The debutant had to take the ball out of his net one more time before making his first save.

Hauptmann, who only had three goals in 119 2. Bundesliga appearances, scored his second of the afternoon with an improvised finish at the end of a brilliant counterattack from Thomas Stamm’s side.

Himmelmann’s first save was even far from convincing as he nearly slipped Kofi Amoako’s long-range effort when the shot was straight at him. After successive 3-1 wins, Karlsruhe were trailing by the same scoreline with the second-half yet to be played.

Dresden have only lost to Elversberg in 2026, but this was the first time they scored three goals away from home since winning promotion from 3. Liga. There was another shaky moment by Karlsruhe’s unsettled goalkeeper early after the restart when he failed to collect Alexander Rossipal’s routine cross at the first time of asking

Meanwhile, Schreiber’s first save of the game arrived at the hour mark from a direct free-kick by Wanitzek. Moments earlier, Christian Eichner was warned by the referee Florian Badstübner for leaving his dugout area to quickly pass the ball before a throw-in, but his players did get the memo as Karlsruhe started to show more urgency.

Louey Ben Farhat’s sensational goal brought life back to the BBBank Wildpark stadium as fans started to believe in a comeback. The Tunisian attacker spent the first half of the season on the sidelines with a metatarsal fracture, but he has now scored four goals in his last three matches.

A couple of minutes later, Roko Simic’s header hit the post as the pressure mounted on Dresden. Even Himmelmann made an important save to deny Jonas Sterner from restoring Dresden’s two-goal lead. The hosts continued to knock in search of an equalizing goal, but they lacked precision to test Schreiber until an injury-time drama.

Dresden found their way to respond three times to take a point in the reverse fixture, with Jakob Lemmer’s equalizer coming in injury-time. Similarly, Karlsruhe salvaged a point here with Wanitzek scoring from the spot once again for his 13th goal of the season.

VAR was at the center stage in the dramatic ending to the game. It first adjudged Rossipal’s foul on substitute Lilian Egloff happened inside the box before Ben Ferhat denied a remarkable winner for an offside call.

Dresden missed out on a chance to close the gap with the early-season promotion candidates Karlsruhe to five points. They sit in 13th place with 26 points, which is the same tally as the team in the relegation playoff berth, Greuther Fürth. Only two teams conceded more goals than Karlsruhe, but they became the sixth team to score 40 goals or more this campaign.