Stojilkovic makes the Böllenfall gate tremble

A scene like from the head cinema of Torsten Lieberknecht originated and put into action by Filip Stojilkovic. Lieberknecht is a coach who, despite having spent most of his life in the football business, can still enjoy small things and big moments with childlike enthusiasm. Stojilkovic’s 81st-minute goal on Saturday night was undoubtedly a big deal. The late equalizer to make it 1-1 in the second division summit against Hamburger SV increased Darmstadt’s chances of promotion in purely numerical terms (a further four points ahead of HSV, even ten ahead of fourth place).

The quality of the performance of the team, which was enormously weakened by the substitutes, was worth at least as much. They were the better team over the fast-paced and highly intensive 90 minutes. The strong performance of the Darmstadt squad was crowned by Stojilkovic’s brilliant goal. Well after 11 p.m., coach Lieberknecht found words like “super”, “outstanding”, “a feast for the eyes” for the scene in which the expensive newcomer appeared for the first time since arriving in Darmstadt really drew attention to itself.