HOFFENHEIM SECURED CHAMPIONS League football for the first time in the club’s history on Saturday, as 30-year-old manager Julian Nagelsmann completed a stunning turnaround in fortunes for the Bundesliga club.
Nagelsmann took over in October 2015 as the Bundesliga’s youngest ever manager aged 28, leading them out of a relegation battle in his debut campaign before securing a Champions League play-off spot 12 months ago.
Hoffenheim came up short against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in that two-legged play-off last August, however have now secured Champions League football for the first time with a third place finish.
While last season fourth spot would have only secured a play-off, this year the entire top four in Germany go directly into the group stages.
An entertaining encounter saw Hoffenheim edge Borussia Dortmund 3-1 on Saturday – a result which proved just enough for both sides to secure Champions League qualification, with the 2013 finalists finishing in fourth place.
What an achievement for Julian Nagelsmann at @achtzehn99_en. 3rd place finish and an automatic champions League qualification to the group stages. Took them from relegation to back to back Champion League qualifications. Will have him over Arteta pic.twitter.com/hqEO6SpiKi
— Osman (@OsmanZtheGooner) May 12, 2018
With two of the top-four spots still to play for heading into a thrilling final round of action, these two sides were locked in a four-way tussle with Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig to see who would join Bayern Munich and Schalke as Germany’s representatives.
Goalkeeper Roman Burki’s mistake gifted Andrej Kramaric the opener midway through the first half, but that lead was cancelled out by Marco Reus in the 58th minute.
Adam Szalai soon restored Hoffenheim’s advantage, however, and Pavel Kaderabek’s scramble saw Hoffenheim dramatically leapfrog their opponents into third for their highest ever Bundesliga finish.
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