“FC St. Pauli Faces High-Stakes Game Against Fortuna Düsseldorf: A Top-Class Excitement and Promotion-Driving Duel”

Tension and anticipation are huge at FC St. Pauli and among the fans anyway. On Saturday evening (8.30 p.m., live ticker on MOPO.de), the neighborhood will simmer and the Millerntor Stadium will tremble when the brown and whites ask for a hot dance on their lawn in the top game Fortuna Düsseldorf. Second division, first-class duel, top-class excitement.

It is almost a knockout game of the traditional clubs with the same number of points (53 points), which are only separated by a goal in the table. The winner will be the sole hunter of HSV and relegation rank. More pursuer duel is not possible. For St. Pauli coach Fabian Hürzeler, the game is also an ultimate quality and status test.

St. Pauli is the best team in the second half of the season

While the competition has regularly praised his men – by far the most successful team in the second half of the season – as the top team, best opponent or top shelf in recent weeks, Hürzeler emphasizes: “If we also master this challenge, then we will definitely be a top team in the league. If we don’t master them, then we will continue to take our steps to be a top team.”

understated? More like an attempt to tease even more out of his team, to get a little better and to grow a bit again with the next challenge. What Hürzeler calls the “process”.

Once again, the coach takes an offensive approach to the issue of pressure. “In a game like this, the boys should and must feel the pressure. You won’t be successful in games like this without pressure.” The decisive factor is how you deal with the pressure and, at best, convert it into positive energy.

St. Pauli did an excellent job in the most recent Saturday evening top games in Heidenheim (1-0) and most recently in Darmstadt (3-0).

Winner mentality for promotion

If you want to move up – sooner or later – you have to be able to deal with pressure situations. Hürzeler inoculates that into his team. winning mentality. Resilience and toughness – physically and mentally. In this respect, in recent years, there has often been a problem against traditionally robust, rip-off and nicky Düsseldorfers.

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“We proved in Darmstadt that the boys can do it. That they drive the intensity and they can be resilient,” says Hürzeler about the development in recent months, which is also the basis for St. Pauli’s new away strength. “Now it’s time to show that consistently. The boys have set a standard in terms of what they can do in terms of running, fighting and playing. We should also measure ourselves against that standard.”