Heidenheim and Osnabrück played out a seven-goal thriller in the opening round of the 2. Bundesliga, with the home side claiming a 4-3 victory at the BayArena on Saturday. The match delivered drama from the opening minutes, with both teams trading blows across the ninety-two minutes before Heidenheim held on for all three points.
Budu Zivzivadze opened the scoring in the tenth minute for Heidenheim, though his effort was cancelled out by a VAR decision for offside just six minutes later. Nils Wiemann equalised for Osnabrück in the twenty-third minute before Marcel Costly restored the home lead twenty-nine minutes in. David Kopacz brought the visitors level again in the thirty-fourth minute, but Jan Schoppner's late first-half strike gave Heidenheim a 3-2 advantage at the break.
The second half saw seven substitutions and two more goals. Heidenheim's Marvin Pieringer found the net in the eighty-ninth minute to extend his team's lead, but Robin Meissner's ninety-second-minute penalty ensured a dramatic finish. Osnabrück's Ismail Badjie had been booked in the thirteenth minute, while Heidenheim's Walid Mhamdi received a yellow card in the fifty-fourth minute.
Heidenheim dominated possession at 53 per cent and created more clear-cut opportunities, registering 2.4 expected goals compared to Osnabrück's 2.09. The home side took sixteen shots in total, with six finding the target, while Osnabrück managed six successful efforts from fourteen attempts. Heidenheim completed 383 passes against 286 for their opponents, and their key passes tally of 16 edged past Osnabrück's 15.
The result moves Heidenheim to 12 points from five games after their fourth victory of the season. Osnabrück remain eighth on six points following their third defeat in four matches. Both sides had shown mixed form coming into this fixture, with Heidenhammer's recent results including a 4-1 win over Ingolstadt and a 1-3 loss to Hamburg, while Osnabrück's last outing saw them fall 2-0 to Paderborn.