First Team

Robert Glatzel: Unstoppable in front of goal

Despite the odds being stacked against him, Robert Glatzel bagged his nineteenth goal of the campaign with an 85th-minute winner against FC St. Pauli in the Hamburg derby. HSV’s top scorer looks to be hitting his stride again just at the right time as the climax of the 2. Bundesliga season approaches.

In the 111th Hamburg derby last week, Robert Glatzel looked to have given Hamburger SV the lead in textbook fashion. The striker sprinted past his marker and latched onto a through ball on the edge of the box, before deftly chipping the ball past onrushing St. Pauli keeper Nikola Vasilj. The Rothosen’s joy was short-lived, however and Glatzel’s jubilant celebrations were cut short by his goal being chalked off for a foul in the build-up. HSV’s number 9 could not hide his astonishment with the decision and held his head in his hands as he protested to the referee, but the ruling stood and the scoreline remained level.

Déjà-vu with a happier ending

Glatzel found himself in a virtually identical situation last season. In the 3-0 win over 1. FC Nürnberg on matchday 23, the attacker’s finish into the same corner of the same goal was ruled out as he was judged – albeit only after the intervention of VAR - to have made contact with the defender. “I immediately cast my mind back to that moment. If it was the other way round and I went down after such minimal contact, it would never be given as a foul,” claimed Glatzel after the final whistle last Friday.

However, Glatzel’s career has been shaped by getting knocked down and getting back up again, and he would not be the player he is today if he let setbacks throw him off his stride. On the contrary, he and his teammates kept their nerve after yet another disallowed goal and being denied by the woodwork twice to win the derby at the death. Fittingly, it would be Glatzel who sealed the three points for his side with another classic striker’s finish. The 30-year-old was in the right place at the right time to capitalise on a mistimed punch from Vasilj and headed home to put HSV ahead (see photo). The celebrations were just as euphoric as they had been earlier in the encounter, with the crucial difference being that, on this occasion, the goal counted. “You could feel that the whole team kept giving it their all. We showed ourselves, the fans and the city as a whole that we’re not backing down,” stated Glatzel. “Giving something back to the fans feels really amazing, especially after the disappointment of the past few weeks.”

Close to a personal milestone

These were weeks where even the prolific striker’s finishing prowess deserted him. Four games without netting marked Glatzel’s longest dry spell this season, and he also missed two games with muscle issues after previously appearing in 94 consecutive 2. Bundesliga matches. Still, the free-scoring HSV forward bounced back from this difficult period by striking twice in the 4-0 win over Braunschweig, even though he still wasn’t fully fit.

He followed this up with the winner in the Hamburg derby – his 19th goal of the campaign. It also marked the fifth time this season that ‘Bobby’ has scored in successive games. The versatile forward has found the net nine times with his right foot, five times with his left, four times with his head and once with his chest so far this Bundesliga season, and has rediscovered his goalscoring instinct at exactly the right time with the season coming to a climax.

Robert Glatzel’s 19-goal haul has already equalled his tally from the previous season. The attacker only scored more in his first season with the Rothosen, when he netted 22 times. There are only two league games to go – a clash in Paderborn on Friday evening, followed by an encounter wih Nürnberg the Sunday after – for Glatzel to equal this personal milestone and make a vital contribution in his side’s battle for promotion. “We want to end the season well. We definitely still believe we can win the last two games,” said Glatzel. “That’s the first requirement before we even start looking at Düsseldorf. There’s always hope.” Few people embody this mantra as much as he does.