Black Sunday – MSV Duisburg without a chance in the basement duel

Black Sunday for MSV Duisburg. They lost 2-0 at Arminia Bielefeld – there are only seven games left to avoid the Regionalliga. The gap is five points again.

Basement duel in the 3rd division. Arminia Bielefeld welcomed MSV Duisburg. And in a 2:0 (2:0) win, things really got going right from the start.

MSV coach Boris Schommers relied on the same starting eleven as before the international break in the 2-0 win against 1. FC Saarbrücken.

Bielefeld coach Michel Kniat changed his starting line-up in one position after the 1-0 defeat against SV Waldhof Mannheim before the international break.

And both clubs started with an open goal. After three minutes, there were already two high-caliber goals. First for the hosts, but several attempts in just a few seconds failed to find their way into the goal. Vincent Müller made two sensational saves.

At the other end, it was Jonas Kersken who saved twice from the Duisburg shots. What a start. Things calmed down a little after that, but the intensity remained high

Arminia Bielefeld - MSV Duisburg March 31, 2024 — Arminia Bielefeld – MSV Duisburg March 31, 2024

And then it was like so often. A set-piece made it 1:0. Fabian Klos curled a corner high, Müller parried and Leon Schneider dusted it off to make it 1:0 for the home side.

And Duisburg? They struggled, had a few chances and had to make an early substitution. Santiago Castaneda was substituted as he was about to receive a yellow-red card. Erik Zenga came on in his place and quickly had to watch as the score fell to 0:2

Once MSV were open and veteran Klos took advantage of this – they went into the break 2-0 up. After the changeover, MSV immediately tried to exert pressure.

However, the Meiderich side failed to create any chances and with every minute played it looked less likely that the Zebras could turn the game around. Bielefeld were much closer to making it 3-0 than MSV were to closing the gap.

As a result, it remained 2-0 – Bielefeld with their first league home win in 2024 and an eminently important three points in the relegation battle. MSV are now five points behind the drop zone again – the pressure is mounting and now the derby at Essen’s Hafenstraße is on the cards.

Arminia Bielefeld continue their campaign on Friday (April 5, 7 p.m.) at FC Ingolstadt. MSV have to play the derby at Rot-Weiss Essen on Sunday (April 7, 4:30 p.m.)