Magdeburg earns big points in Braunschweig.

1. FC Magdeburg has taken a big step towards staying up in the 2nd Bundesliga. The former European Cup winners won Saturday night’s game at Eintracht Braunschweig 2-1 (1-0) and thus overtook their co-promoters in the table.

Moritz Kwarteng gave FCM the lead in the 22nd minute. Tatsuya Ito made it 2-0 (63rd) shortly after coming on as a substitute. Anthony Ujah brought Eintracht back up (69th). With two big chances from Silas Gnaka (70th) and Leon Bell (74th), Magdeburg were closer to equalizing after a third goal than Braunschweig.

“The win was very important for us,” said coach Christian Titz. “The win gives you a lot of self-confidence, a certain calm and conviction, because we’re in a better position now in the table.”

In front of 23,325 spectators, the guests had a good free-kick chance through Baris Atik in the 5th minute. And that gave the direction in this game.

After the two setbacks against Jahn Regensburg (2:2) and SV Sandhausen (1:2), the team of coach Christian Titz was superior to the next direct competitor in the relegation battle this time in all respects.

Magdeburg was better in terms of play, acted much faster and also won significantly more duels.

Eintracht Braunschweig disappointed

The Braunschweig side had scored ten points from the previous four games and even ended FC St. Pauli’s winning streak last Sunday. This time, however, Eintracht fell far short of the last performances shown. Despite the loud fan support, Michael Schiele’s team seemed restless, unfocused and inhibited for a long time. Only Jannis Nikolaou (43rd) and Ujah (58th) had good chances.

The fact that playmaker Immanuel Pherai is not fit again had a particular impact on this game. The Dutchman was back in the squad after his head injury but was only brought on after an hour. Shortly afterwards it was 0:2. “Today just wasn’t our day,” said Ujah. “We knew exactly how the opponent was playing. But we weren’t consistent. That wasn’t enough.”