FC St. Pauli

Head coach Timo Schultz named the same eleven players who started the 4-1 dress rehearsal win over Croatian top-division club NK Istra for the season opener against Nürnberg. Manolis Saliakas, Adam Dźwigała, Jakov Medić and today’s captain Leart Paqarada formed the back four in front of keeper Dennis Smarsch, with Eric Smith, Jackson Irvine, Marcel Hartel and Lukas Daschner in the midfield diamond and Johannes Eggestein and Igor Matanović up front. Johannes Geis missed out for the visitors through illness, but former St. Pauli man Mats Møller Dæhli recovered from a midweek cold to start.

Before the kick-off, Ewald Lienen, who has left the club after more than seven years of service, addressed an emotional speech to the fans by way of thanks. He then went on one last lap of the pitch, as he used to as head coach, receiving a warm round of applause from all four stands. The home support ushered in the new season with a superb tifo, and after a rousing chorus of Aux Armes the game kicked off. The home side hit the ground running, Marcel Hartel fluffing a shot on goal just 40 seconds in after some nice link-up play in the Nürnberg box. Almost immediately, Manolis Saliakas hit a shot off target before Taylan Duman, who equalised in the last minute in the 1-1 draw between the two sides in late April, missed the target by some distance.

A misunderstanding between Dennis Smarsch and Jakov Medić in the seventh minute gave Christoph Daferner a chance to capitalise, but Smarsch recovered in time to gather the Nürnberg striker’s mishit effort. Soon after that, Daferner was in the spotlight again, his shot from the left channel fizzing a couple of metres past the St. Pauli goal. In a high-tempo, hard-fought encounter neither side really had time to take a breather. Nürnberg threatened again on 20 minutes when Asger Sörensen met a Tim Handwerker corner first time from 12 metres and only narrowly missed the target.

Then, in the 24^th minute, Jackson Irvine showed how it was done, heading a perfectly weighted Leart Paqarada free-kick into the far corner from eight metres to give his side the lead. Eight minutes later, Smarsch gathered a ball that had come off the head of Medić before it could cross the line, and then both Matanović (from a tight angle) and Paqarada (from 22 metres) were denied by Christian Mathenia in the Nürnberg goal. That was soon forgotten, however, when Florian Heft pointed to the spot after a foul by Christopher Schindler on Lukas Daschner. Paqarada stepped up and converted with aplomb into the bottom right corner to make it 2-0. And the celebrations had hardly died down when the Millerntor erupted again. Daschner shrugged off some defensive challenges in the box and pulled the trigger from 11 metres, and although Mathenia got a hand to it, the ball went in off the inside of the post. That was the last of the first-half action and the Boys in Brown took the plaudits of the crowd as they went into the dressing room three goals to the good.

Ice-cold from the spot: captain Leart Paqarada makes it 2-0.

Understandably, Schultz saw no reason to make any changes, while Robert Klauss opted to replace Taylan Duman with Erik Wekesser. But it was Kwadwo Duah who laid down the first marker 40 seconds after the restart, beating Smarsch with a low shot just inside the post from 18 metres to pull one back for the visitors. The Boys in Brown brushed themselves down and were soon pushing forward again. Paqarada had a fiercely hit shot saved by Mathenia after some good work by Daschner, and from the resulting corner the FCN keeper was on hand again to defuse an attempt by Irvine. Eggestein then hit two shots wide of the goal within 120 seconds of each other before a third effort was blocked by Schindler.

The visitors threatened again from a throw-in on 63 when Wekesser met Jan Gyamerah’s cross in the left channel, but the ball flashed a metre wide of the right-hand post. Schultz made his first two substitutions 20 minutes from time, introducing David Otto and Carlo Boukhalfa for Igor Matanović and Johannes Eggestein. Klauss responded by throwing on a striker in Manuel Wintzheimer for midfielder Mats Møller Dæhli. Wekesser tried his luck with a free-kick from distance soon after, but Smarsch was able to deal with it.

With ten minutes to go, Luca Zander came on for an exhausted Manolis Saliakas. Nürnberg kept pushing forward in search of a second goal, but the St. Pauli rearguard stood firm and gave nothing away apart from one effort by Schindler that was far too high. Boukhalfa had a chance to make 4-1 in the 90^th minute, but his effort flew wide. Nails were soon being bitten, though, when substitute Enrico Valentini took advantage of an undercooked back header by Medić to make it 3-2. That was the end of the scoring, thankfully, and the Boys in Brown hung on to secure a narrow yet deserved victory on the opening day of the season.

FC St. Pauli

Smarsch - Saliakas (Zander 80’), Dźwigała (Fazliji 90’)​, Medić, Paqarada - Smith (Aremu 90’), Hartel, Irvine, Daschner - Eggestein (Otto 70’), Matanović (Boukhalfa 70’)

Head coach: Timo Schultz

FC Nürnberg

Mathenia - Gyamerah (Valentini 82’), Schindler, Sörensen (Hübner 66’), Handwerker - Tempelmann, Nürnberger, Duman (Wekesser 46’), Møller Dæhli (Wintzheimer 72’) - Daferner, Duah (Shuranov 82’)

Head coach: Robert Klauss

Goals: 1-0 Irvine (24’), 2-0 Paqarada (pen. 37’), 3-0 Daschner (39’), 3-1 Duah (46’), 3-2 Valentini (90’+2)

Yellow cards: Daschner, Irvine, Boukhalfa – Tempelmann, Nürnberger, Sörensen

Referee: Florian Heft (Neuenkirchen)

Attendance: 28,582

Photos: Witters