Cologne 1-2 Hamburg: HSV's latest Bundesliga promotion push off to perfect start

Hamburg kicked off their seventh season in the 2. Bundesliga with a clinical counter-attacking display away at Cologne. Can they use a window of opportunity this season to finally seal promotion?

"An Köln kommt keiner vorbei!" read the message on the huge choreography covering 1. FC Köln's Südkurve to start the 2024/25 Bundesliga 2 season: "No-one gets past Köln!"

Unless, of course, the opposition is Hamburger SV, who took the lead after just five minutes in Müngersdorf, Ransford Königsdorffer tapping home after Jonas Urbig, Köln's new 20-year-old number one, spilled Jean-Luc Dompé's shot.

HSV had travelled south to kick off their seventh attempt at promotion back to the Bundesliga without either of their first-choice strikers, veteran Robert Glatzel out with a knee injury and Davie Selke only fit enough to make the bench on his return to Köln.

But with Dompé and fellow wing-back Bakery Jatta offering pace down the flanks and Königsdorffer in poaching mood up front, Steffen Baumgart arguably had his counter-attacking weapons of choice as he also returned to the Domstadt.

As they proved again ten minutes before half-time when Königsdörffer rose to meet Adam Karabec's cross and, after Urbig did well to tip it onto the bar this time, again tapped in the rebound and set HSV on their way.