Penalty shootout drama: HSV women battle for a point in the northern derby | OneFootball

The Northern Derby between the HSV women and Werder Bremen was intense and delivered excitement until the last second. However, the duel was also influenced by the referee.

Referee Karoline Wacker, who was very strict, awarded a penalty three times. The first was after 17 minutes, for the Hamburg team, after Melanie Brunnthaler, who was already on her way out of the penalty area, was clumsily brought down by Michelle Ulbrich. Sophie Hillebrand seized the opportunity and scored in the top right corner to give a 1-0 lead.

Subsequently, the clearly favored SVW took control and had their first clear chances. However, either a defender blocked the shot or Lea Paulick made a save. On the other side, the home team remained dangerous in front of 12,276 spectators at the Volksparkstadion, which was a Bundesliga record for HSV. Lotta Wrede was particularly active and hard to stop. In a duel with Michelle Weiss, she went to the ground. Although no foul was visible, Wacker awarded another penalty. This time, Hillebrand's shot was not particularly well-placed, allowing Mariella El Sherif to save it (43).

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HSV Women: Brancao Sees Progress

The missed 2-0 turned out to be a key moment, as Hillebrand noted: “It was very unfortunate that we couldn't extend our lead with the second penalty. Because after the break, the HSV women found themselves more on the defensive. This was broken by a fall from former Hamburg player Larissa Mühlhaus. Wacker penalized Paulina Bartz's challenge. The third penalty of the Saturday afternoon was converted by the fouled player herself to equalize (63).

After that, the Bremen team was closer to taking the lead. “The second half clearly went to the opponent,” said HSV coach Liese Brancao. Nevertheless, her team almost scored the winning goal when Hillebrand, after a wonderful pass from Leni Eggert, suddenly broke free in the 88th minute but sent the ball over the goal. Almost in the direct counterattack, Paulick made an excellent save against Verena Wieder.

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Thus, it remained 1-1, which brought joy to the HSV women. “I am very proud of my team because this mentality, to withstand difficult phases of the game, was something we lacked a few months ago. Body language and performance were consistent from the first to the last minute today,” praised Brancao. Her team now has a three-point lead over the relegation zone and will try to carry the momentum from the last two matches into the international break.

Photo: IMAGO

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.