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Kaiserslautern's players celebrate after promotion
Photo: Jan Woitas / dpa
When the overjoyed professionals of 1. FC Kaiserslautern danced exuberantly across the pitch after the long-awaited return to the 2nd Bundesliga and sang "Never again third division" with their fans, their disappointed rivals from Dynamo Dresden had long since dropped their heads Stadium catacombs gone.
Due to the 0:2 (0:0) in the relegation second leg in front of 30,530 spectators, the Saxons have to be relegated to the 3rd division like in 2006, 2014 and 2020 and also expect a legal aftermath after a pyrotechnic display from their fans shortly before the end.
For the Palatinate, on the other hand, a four-year period of suffering ended in third division sadness.
Defender Kevin Kraus announced in the exuberance of emotions: "We'll celebrate until we lose our mother tongue."
Daniel Hanslik in the 59th minute and Philipp Hercher (90+2) scored the acclaimed goals for victory, which was decisive after the goalless first leg.
“It's a great feeling.
The whole region craved it.
We put everything into the game and I'm very proud that we were able to give people this gift," said FCK trainer Dirk Schuster on Sat.1.
The 54-year-old had only been committed to Marco Antwerp shortly before the relegation.
"We have completed what he helped to prepare," emphasized Schuster.
Dynamo fans set fan block on fire
After the 2-0 in injury time, the game was briefly on the brink because Dynamo fans threw numerous flares and firecrackers on the lawn, causing an interruption of several minutes, and there was also a fire in two places in the fan block.
However, referee Daniel Siebert kept calm and brought the game to an end properly after an interruption lasting several minutes.
»The disappointment is of course huge.
I'm extremely sad," said Dynamo coach Guerino Capretti.
»It is difficult to go into analysis with these negative emotions.
That has to be processed first.«
Because of the problem fans in both fan camps, the police were on duty with over 1000 officers.
The focus was on a strict separation of fans, also on arrival and departure.
A police helicopter was deployed and, as a precaution, water cannons were also placed in the operational area.
The city initially remained peaceful, but pyrotechnics were constantly being ignited in the stadium.
A firecracker even flew from the FCK fan block to a spectator tier with Dresden supporters.
kim/dpa/sid
