Greuther Fürth came from behind three times, including a goal in stoppage time, to earn a huge point on the road against Hoffenheim in a 3-3 draw.
Hoffenheim vs. Greuther Fürth: Final score 3-3, Fürth grab stoppage time equalizer
Hoffenheim and Greuther Fürth played to a 3-3 draw in a wildly entertaining match.
Fürth nearly jumped out to a 1-0 after five minutes. Sercan Sararer played a nice through ball to Edu. The forward on loan from Schalke split Marvin Compper and Matthieu Delpierre, but his first touch was poor and brought him too wide. He turned to shoot and sent the ball into the crowd.
The miss would come back to haunt them just minutes later thanks to extremely poor marking. Kevin Volland drew a free kick outside of the area after a foul by Thomas Kleine. Sebastian Rudy lofted a free kick into the area, and Roberto Firmino ran completely unmarked through the penalty area and headed the ball past Max Grün for the 1-0 lead.
The visitors continued to build their attack and through some physical play in the midfield. After testing Tim Wiese a couple of times early in the match, Edgar Prib ripped a shot from outside the penalty area. Wiese was only able to parry the shot, and Zoltan Stieber was on hand to put the rebound past the goalkeeper for the equalizer a few minutes before halftime.
Hoffenheim nearly took the lead in the 64th minute thanks to a horrible error from Grün. The goalkeeper slipped to the ground as he was punting the ball away, and his kick only went about fifteen yards. The ball fell to Volland, but Grün recovered in time to save the midfielder’s shot.
The deadlock was broken only a few minutes later. Joselu scored his second goal since joining Hoffenheim. The Spanish forward split the Fürth backline and beat Grün to the near post to make it 2-1.
The last ten minutes of the match was a brilliant display of why the Bundesliga is absolutely fantastic.
Fürth kept pressing forward on the counter looking for a second equalizer. They finally found it in the 84th minute. Christopher Nöthe fed the ball to Prib at the top of the area. The midfielder took a few touches to get across the top of the box and curled a shot past a diving Wiese.
With all three points still on the table, Hoffenheim went looking for the winner. Joselu went in on another excellent through ball. His initial shot was saved by Grün, but the goalkeeper spilled the shot behind me. Joselu beat him to the ball and tapped it into the net to give Hoffenheim a 3-2 lead in the 89th minute.
Instead of sulking after giving up a last minute goal, Fürth went forward again looking for an improbable third equalizer. This is the same Fürth side that only managed two goals through their first seven matches. After several attempts at Wiese in the dying minutes, Fürth won a penalty and brought everyone into the Hoffenheim area including Grün. Prib crossed the ball into the area and Lasse Sobiech flicked the ball into the far corner past a flailing Wiese.
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