St Pauli triumph over Union Berlin to drop anchor in the Bundesliga | Bundesliga

One of the acquainted tells of St Pauli’s standalone angle to their equipment, till not too long ago, was the sleeve patch promoting an area brewer. Astra make a lot of their different worldview too, in addition to their attachment to the placement of their microbrewery within the Reeperbahn. Just like the soccer membership, they see themselves on the coronary heart of St Pauli’s neighborhood.

Astra’s brand, spray-painted on the primary stand at Millerntor, is especially evocative of the place they’re at. It’s a crimson coronary heart with an anchor piercing the highest, a nod to the town of Hamburg’s maritime heritage resembling a sailor’s tattoo (which is why it all the time appeared so satisfying on the higher arm of St Pauli’s jerseys). Having waited over a decade to come back again up they’re attempting to really set up themselves within the prime flight for the primary time. To lastly drop anchor, if you’ll.

Within the week Oke Göttlich was re-elected president, having already accomplished a decade within the publish, the membership made an additional transfer in direction of stability. They’ve all the time recognized that staying up this season can be contact and go, given their mannequin and their beliefs, which have been addressed by their revolutionary mannequin of future funding, promoting their Millentor stadium to a cooperative of supporters.

Now St Pauli might be happy with January on the pitch. Two successive and important wins towards rivals for the drop have put them ready of power, in thirteenth. They’re six factors away from Heidenheim, the present occupiers of the third-from-bottom relegation playoff spot, the place they received final week, and leapfrogged Union Berlin on objective distinction with Sunday’s 3-0 house victory.

They’ve appeared tight, dogged and well-drilled by coach Alexander Blessin for a lot of the season, however it appeared like a scarcity of objectives would possibly finally sink them. After eight video games they’d 5 factors and had scored simply twice. Three days earlier than profitable at Heidenheim, they went down 1-0 at Bochum, a workforce with even fewer survival prospects than St Pauli. It was one in all two 1-0 defeats to begin the 12 months.

Enter Morgan Guilavogui. The Guinea ahead has not been carrying his hero’s swimsuit for many of this season; it has taken him time to settle in northern Germany. Actually the 26-year-old remains to be getting used to the highest stage, interval. The youthful brother of the previous France (and present Leeds) midfielder Josuha hoped he was taking a step up when becoming a member of Lens final season after a prolific spell with Paris FC however regardless of making a belated Champions League debut, it was an usually irritating expertise. Having made a mortgage swap at the beginning of the season, the identical was true of his preliminary steps within the Bundesliga.

Irrespective of. A primary objective within the important win over Holstein Kiel on the finish of November received him going, and one other at Heidenheim final week was adopted by a double towards Union on Sunday, with the primary a piledriver on the run from a good angle. “Morgan has a special story to mine,” Josuha, seven-and-a-half years his senior, advised So Foot final 12 months. “He wasn’t stored on within the academy and had to return via novice soccer. What’s occurring for him now could be sensible.” Guilavogui junior is on the coronary heart of an explosion of St Pauli objectives, 5 in two video games now.

Making do and mending is the St Pauli method, because the rise and rise of fellow striker Dapo Afolayan has proven. Perhaps now Guilavogui, like his non permanent employers, might be set to settle on the prime desk.

Speaking factors

Borussia Dortmund started the post-Nuri Sahin period by stopping the rot, no less than statistically. The two-2 draw at house to Werder Bremen was the primary time they’ve averted defeat in 2025, however the first sport underneath caretaker coach Mike Tullberg was as chaotic as any of the video games that preceded it. Nico Schlotterbeck was despatched off (as within the away fixture in Bremen) for a last-man problem but BVB nonetheless managed to take a 2-0 lead, earlier than the guests pulled it again – each scorers, Leonardo Bittencourt and Marvin Ducksch, are ex-Dortmunders. “When it rains, it pours,” stated Tullberg, who was confirmed by the managing director Lars Ricken as being in cost for Wednesday’s last Champions League group sport towards Shakhtar, with no everlasting successor to Sahin seeming imminent.

The Leon Goretzka practice might need slowed down after final week’s exploits however it was weekend for Bayern on two fronts. The two-1 win at Freiburg prolonged their lead on the head of the desk to 6 factors after Edmond Tapsoba’s late personal objective pegged Leverkusen again at Leipzig, and Goretzka’s substitute when he was pressured off within the first half was Josip Stanisić, taking part in his first minutes since damaging a knee in pre-season. Stanisić was on mortgage to Leverkusen for his or her all-conquering 2023-24 marketing campaign (even scoring towards his dad or mum membership in a victory) so all of it contributed to the sensation that the title worm is popping.

For the champions it was a chance missed; Leverkusen had led 2-0 within the first half and created greater than sufficient probabilities to place the sport to mattress earlier than that late sucker punch. Florian Wirtz was excellent once more. regardless of being thrown off his stride by Diego Simeone’s workforce in a Champions League defeat final Tuesday. Leipzig’s Willi Orban squared as much as Wirtz on the touchline, and the 21-year-old responded by slaloming via Orban and Arthur Vermeeren and hitting the publish with an outrageous shot, earlier than Patrik Schick snaffled the rebound. It was one in all three events on which the irrepressible Wirtz hit the woodwork and he additionally assisted Aleix García’s objective. “That was precisely the fitting reply,” stated the captain Lukas Hradecky. “After all the opponents wish to put him out of the sport, right here and in Madrid, however right this moment he was nice.”

Mainz proceed to fly excessive after beating Stuttgart 2-0 and at the moment are only a level behind their weekend guests, who’re fourth, regardless of the absence of star striker Jonathan Burkhardt. Teenager Nelson Weiper stepped in for his first senior begin in 18 months after numerous accidents ruined final time period, and calmly slotted within the opener. “We don’t wish to do rush to purchase gamers after which break the trail for our younger gamers,” emphasised sporting director Niko Bungert, underlining the rationale for a cautious switch coverage.

It was all about advantageous margins for poor Heidenheim. Having equalised via Patrick Mainka they have been inside a whisker of a winner at Augsburg when Marnon Busch’s deflected cross hit the within of a publish in stoppage time. Practically two minutes later they conceded the decisive objective to Keven Schlotterbeck, pulling the house aspect 11 factors away from their guests – who look more and more marooned within the backside three – and near security.