MSV Duisburg’s success cannot be denied. However, Luis Hartwig has not been a key to this success to date. We talked to him about his role.

MSV Duisburg’s last defeat was on August 23rd against SC Paderborn’s second team (1:2). Since then, the Zebras have won eight of the eleven competitive games in which they have played, sharing the points three times, in the most recent of which was the quarter-final of the DFB Cup.

MSV’s winning streak is growing from week to week and the team seems to be getting better and better. One player who has yet to reach his peak is Luis Hartwig. The 21-year-old joined the club from KV Oostende in the summer and has only played seven competitive games for his new employer to date.

Three of these games were in the Niederrheinpokal. He scored for the first time for the Zebras there and was an important part of the 3-2 work victory over Ratingen 04/19. “First of all, I’m happy to be back on the pitch. First on the wing and then in the center. In my opinion, I did quite well, even though I couldn’t play to all of my strengths due to the pitch. But I wasn’t the only one,” revealed the scorer of the 1-0 goal.

However, he still hasn’t found his way around his new sporting home. There is a very good reason for this, as Hartwig himself explains: “I’ve played on the 9 all my life. Wego (Gerrit Wegkamp, editor’s note) and Malek are doing a great job as strikers and are different types of players to me.”

That leaves Hartwig with only the wing position in Dietmar Hirsch’s offensive construct. But there, too, he faces some tough competition. He is well aware of that: “Simon (Jan-Simon Symalla, editor’s note) and Pat (Patrick Sussek, editor’s note) are simply outstanding there. They have probably been our best players in the last four or five games. I fully accept that and will therefore continue to serve the team. Of course, I’m also happy when I get my chances and hope to take them, like against Ratingen.”

The first step in the right direction has thus been taken for Luis Hartwig. He has shown that he is definitely a force to be reckoned with in ‘normal form’. It remains to be seen whether his performance also convinced coach Hirsch, and whether the Zebra fans will be able to welcome Hartwig back into the starting lineup in the next game. That game will be the derby against KFC Uerdingen at the Grotenburg Stadium (November 23, 2:00 pm).