Early pacesetters producing fireworks as second-tier campaign heats up
With heavyweights Fortuna Düsseldorf, Karlsruhe and Hamburg, surprise packages Magdeburg and aspiring Paderborn all in the mix, the Bundesliga 2 promotion race looks like being even more exciting than ever.
bundesliga.com assesses the season so far for the current top five in the second-tier table.
Fortuna Düsseldorf
Current position: 1st
Points: 17
Goal difference: +4 (Goals scored/conceded 11/7)
Unlike the three teams behind them, the current leaders have lost a game, heading into the November international break after a surprise 3-0 home defeat to Hamburg. But the scoreline did not tell the whole story. "If you put in a performance like we have, you won't often lose games like this," said coach Daniel Thioune, who saw his current team rack up 22 goal attempts, 24 crosses, 10 corners and 2 xG against his former club only for Düsseldorf's 21-game unbeaten streak in the second tier to come to an end. "We definitely didn't lose this game in defence, it's that we didn't win it in attack."
It was a rare drawing of a blank for a team that had only been held goalless - in the 0-0 draw with Karlsruhe on Matchday 2 - in their opening seven games. Not that they have gone wild in front of goal: only two of their five wins have been by more than a one-goal margin, and they were a brace of 2-0 victories.
Watch: Hamburg stunned leaders Fortuna on Matchday 8
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