Spirited Heidenheim crashed out of Europe after extra-time | OneFootball

Frank Schmidt made four changes from the side that mastermind a spectacular win last week in Copenhagen. Back from a head injury, Jonas Föhrenbach starts in a European night for the first time in place of 38-year-old Norman Theuerkauf. Luca Kerber and Adrian Beck are slotted in a reshuffled midfield, while winter signing Budu Zivzivadze takes Marvin Pieringer’s place up front.

Meanwhile, new goalkeeper Diant Ramaj, Brazilian center-back Gabriel Pereira, and the highly-rated teenage midfielder Victor Froholdt are the only players to keep their place from Copenhagen’s last Thursday lineup. Borussia Mönchengladbach-bound Kevin Diks is back from suspension, while Mohamed Elyounoussi leads the attacking line after returning to full fitness.

Thanks to the electric atmosphere at the packed Voith-Arena, Heidenheim started brightly. However, both Frank Feller and Marnon Busch nearly lost possession in their own box inside the first ten minutes.

Heidenheim continued to enjoy the majority of possession, but the SuperLiga leaders looked more threatening in the final third. Following Zivzivadze’s unsuccessful header, Copenhagen had a series of promising attacks that kept the hosts in check.

At the midpoint of first-half, Paul Wanner attempted Hidenheim’s first shot on target with a weak effort. After Heidenheim’s fifth straight league defeat on Sunday, Schmidt publicly criticized his team. And, going by his body movement, the long-serving coach was also unsatisfied by the actions here in the first half hour.

But, his instructions couldn’t prevent the momentum shift in Copenhagen’s way. Including a one-on-one against Feller, Tunisian international Elias Achouri had a couple of great chances to open the scoring. Teenage sensation Amin Chiakha was up next to be presented with two clear-cut chances with headers.

He blazed his chance wide from Elyounoussi’s free-kick before making no mistake in converting Diks’ superb cross. It was a fourth goal in the competition for the sought-after 18-year-old striker. Zirzivadze, who found the net 6 times in the 2022-23 Conference League for Hungarian side Fehérvár FC, nearly retained Heidenheim’s advantage on the other end.

Overall, it was another lackluster first-half performance from the Bundesliga side. In the first-leg, Schmidt introduced Omar Traore for the second-half before making two more attacking changes at the hour mark.

He makes two half-time changes here as well, with Pieringer and Mathias Honsak introduced to support Zivzivadze. With the tie still at 2-2, Schmidt’s decision seemed a risky one. And, only five minutes later, Copenhagen got their second following Föhrenbach’s reckless challenge on Giorgi Gocholeishvili.

The Indonesian right-back Diks scored his fourth penalty-kick of the tournament to put the guests ahead on aggregate. Schmidt immediately makes another double swap by introducing Jan Schöppner and Leo Scienza. However, their first second-half chance falls for skipper Patrick Mainka before Ramaj makes a brilliant save from Zivzivadze’s scuffed attempt.

Heidenheim’s best spell continues, but Pieringer failed to score after rounding off the keeper. Shortly after, Gabriel Pereira escaped a red card for tackling Scienza at the edge of the box. However, the Luxembourgish Brazilian punished them by scoring the resulting free-kick just like his 95th-minute equalizer in Bremen last month. All square again.

Five minutes before the end of regular time, Mainka failed to hit the target with a free header from Heidenheim’s first corner-kick of the game. A couple of minutes later, Copenhagen also earned a corner-kick after Froholdt’s excellent shot paved away by Feller.

A minute later, there was another one for Heidenheim following Ramaj’s desperate attempt at saving Scienza’s splendid shot after it was richocheted off the goalpost. The mesmerizing Scienza had one last chance to decide the tie before it went to extra-time.

Copenhagen showed improvement at the start of the extra-time, but Heidenheim quickly match their energy and directness. However, Jacob Neestrup’s side regained their attacking spark thanks to substitutes Robert and Jordan Larsson.

Nonetheless, the extra-time had very few goalmouth action before another hiCopenhagen substitute made the biggest impact in the 114th-minute. Rodrigo Huescas beats onrushing Feller after a horrid defending by Heidenheim gifted him with the chance. Pieringer responded by putting the ball in the net, but the goal was disallowed for handball.

The last chance of the game went for the matchwinner Huescas, whose ferocious shot denied by the woodwork.

This is Copenhagen’s first win against a German club. They only managed five draws from the previous 15 meetings, starting from losing home and away to Saarbrücken in 1969 to last week’s first-leg in Copenhagen.

Heidenheim, who currently hold the relegation/promotion playoff spot, will travel to Champions League hopefuls RB Leipzig on Sunday. Marco Rose’s side won all previous three meetings between the clubs in Bundesliga.