"Hard to watch": Did Mikelbrencis deny HSV victory? | OneFootball

It was probably the scene of the game: Shortly before the final whistle, a goal by William Mikelbrencis was disallowed for offside. But would the ball have gone in without the Frenchman's help?

A goal celebration that lasted only a few seconds dominated the headlines after Hamburger SV's 0-0 draw at Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the 89th minute, substitute William Mikelbrencis pushed the ball over the line. Thousands of traveling HSV fans were already celebrating the supposed winning goal at that moment. But the joy didn't last long: the Frenchman was clearly offside.

Since then, the main discussion has been whether the ball would have gone into the goal after Yussuf Poulsen's header extension without Mikelbrencis's contact. The problem: Slow-motion replays don't provide a definitive answer. "It's difficult to see from the perspective whether my ball would have gone in anyway," Poulsen explained after viewing the TV footage.

Speaking to DAZN, the striker showed understanding for his teammate: "I would have gone for it in that situation too. It's tough, but we still played a very, very good away game. The draw is satisfactory."

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Teammates Defend Mikelbrencis

Other HSV stars also took the "prevented" winning goal in stride. "If Willi is there, then he goes for it. It's tough because we had the chance," said midfielder Nicolai Remberg in the mixed zone. Defense chief Daniel Elfadli agreed: "You can't blame Willi. He really wants the goal."

Instead of lamenting the missed chance to win, the Hanseatics highlighted the strong final phase. After a largely harmless offensive performance in the first 70 minutes, the substitutions of Jean-Luc Dompé and Poulsen clearly brought new energy.

"In the end, I felt we were closer to winning than Gladbach," Poulsen concluded, who also spoke of an overall successful HSV debut: "I felt very good. It was an awesome game, and I had a good feeling with the guys."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.