Kaiserslautern lost its first game of the season 1-0 in Hannover (1 FC Kaiserslautern)
1. FC Kaiserslautern started off the new second division season with an away loss. The Red Devils fell to Hannover 96 Sunday afternoon, 1-0.
Coach Torsten Lieberknecht sent six newcomers onto the pitch at sold-out Heinz-von-Heiden-Arena. Simon Asta, Maxwell Gyamfi, Semih Sahin, Fabian Kunze, Mahir Emreli and Ivan Prtajin started their first league game for the Red Devils.
Hannover put pressure on the FCK defense from the start. The 96ers’ first good scoring chance was in the 23rd minute when Mustapha Bundu took a shot that Kaiserslautern keeper Julian Krahl saved with his foot.
It was Krahl that kept the Red Devils in the game. Following his mistake in last weekend’s friendly against AS Rome, which gave the Italian side its 1-0 win, Krahl was at the top of his game in Hannover. The keeper made several saves to keep the score 0-0 at the intermission. Kaiserslautern did not have much on offense and had no shots on target.
The second half was much the same, with Hannover controlling the ball and its opponent.
Krahl continued making saves, but in the 74th minute was unable to stop Noel Aseko Nkili’s shot into the net giving Hannover the 1-0 lead.
Hannover kept the Red Devils at bay for the remainer of the game and in the end the team from the Pfalz ended up with no shots on target.
Kaiserslautern will need to get its offense in gear if it wants to play in the top half of the Bundesliga 2 table.
Next up for the Red Devils is the Saturday night match at a sold-out Fritz Walter Stadium against Schalke 04. The team from Gelsenkirchen beat Hertha BSC Berlin 2-1 Friday night to kick off the season.
August 3, 2025 19:11
