BERLIN
\nStuttgart secured their Bundesliga status with a 3-1 victory at Hamburg (6-1 aggregate) in Monday\u2019s relegation playoff return leg, ensuring another season in the second division for the fallen giants.
\nTwo second-half goals from French midfielder Enzo Millot and an injury time strike from DR Congo\u2019s Silas overturned a 1-0 halftime deficit, ensuring the 16th-placed Stuttgart remain in the top division next season.
\nThe loss means Hamburg, who once celebrated the longest run in the top division with a clock marking every second the former Champions League winners had not been relegated, will now play a sixth season in Bundesliga 2.
\nStuttgart manager Sebastian Hoeness, who has lost just one of 10 league matches since taking over in early April, lauded his team\u2019s \u201cability to handle pressure\u201d.
\n\u201cCompliments to the team\u201d Hoeness said of securing first division football next season \u201cit sure didn\u2019t look like that eight or nine weeks ago.\u201d
\nHis Hamburg counterpart Tim Walter, who coached Stuttgart for six months in 2019 before being sacked, lamented how close but how far his side was.
\n\u201cWe played a great season, 20 wins, but we were missing just one point.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re building something unbelievable here, I\u2019m incredibly proud of my team, unfortunately the first division side were a little bit better.\u201d
\nThrashed 3-0 in Thursday\u2019s first leg, Hamburg gave their suffering supporters hope early. A stunning long-range strike from Sonny Kittel just seven minutes in gave the home side the lead in front of an electric 57,000-strong home crowd.
\nHamburg built and pushed in the hope of a second and breathed a sigh of relief after 16 minutes when a superb Serhou Guirassy backheeled goal was chalked off for offside.
\nStuttgart struck early after half-time, the unmarked Millot firing in from close range.
\nMillot scored another midway through the second stanza, pouncing on a huge goalkeeping error from Daniel Heuer Fernandes, who miscued a punt on the edge of his box, allowing the Frenchman to tap in.
\nHamburg pushed to turn the tie but Stuttgart scored again deep into injury time, attacker Silas adding a third to seal his side\u2019s place in next year\u2019s top division.
\nHamburg, with six league titles and a European Cup victory 40 years ago, will play second division football for another season.
\nUnder German football\u2019s playoff system, the 16th-placed team in the top division faces the third-placed team in the second division.
\nSince their relegation, Hamburg have finished fourth three times and third twice, losing last year\u2019s relegation playoff against Hertha Berlin.
\nSince the playoff system was re-instituted in the 2008-09 season, the second division team has won the playoff only on three of 15 occasions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BERLIN Stuttgart secured their Bundesliga status with a 3-1 victory at Hamburg (6-1 aggregate) in Monday\u2019s relegation playoff return leg, ensuring another season in the second division for the fallen giants. Two second-half goals from French midfielder Enzo Millot and an injury time strike from DR Congo\u2019s Silas overturned a 1-0 halftime deficit, ensuring the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-336000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n