Played well for almost an hour and then lost badly: Karlsruher SC started the new second division season very unluckily. The sticking point was an avoidable penalty after just under an hour.
Paderborn (dpa/lsw) - After a slump in performance in the second half and five goals conceded within 20 minutes, Karlsruher SC experienced a debacle at the start of the 2nd Bundesliga season. KSC lost 5-0 (0-0) at SC Paderborn on Sunday and is bottom of the table after the first day of play. "The defeat is okay, but it shouldn't happen at this level," said KSC coach Christian Eichner.
After an uneventful and weak first half, Florent Muslija (56th) scored the penalty kick, Robert Leipertz (65th), Julian Justvan (68th), Felix Platte (72nd) and Sirlord Conteh (75th) in front of 9399 spectators deserved success of Paderborn, who literally overran the declining KSC in the end.
The sticking point for Eichner was the 1-0 lead by Muslija, who came from the KSC youth team, after Karlsruhe goalkeeper Kai Eisele had brought Paderborn's Felix Platte down after a risky cross pass from Philip Heise in the penalty area. "If it doesn't go 0-1 then I'd like to see how the game ends," explained Eichner. "I saw a good team for an hour but we'll have to stick to our plan for the full 90 minutes."
Eichner's statement was based on the fact that Paderborn struggled at the beginning and showed a weak first half. The team from Karlsruhe, who were weak in central defence, played confidently, tried to stop the flow of the SCP game and even had the two best chances through new signing Mikkel Kaufmann (4th) and Lucas Cueto (45.1).
The penalty kick after the break turned the game upside down and acted as an initial spark on the Paderborn side. Leipertz, Justvan, Platte and Conteh increased the lead to 5-0 against guests who were weakening in strength and defensively becoming weaker. "After the first half, I didn't expect the game to end like this," said Justvan on pay TV channel Sky. But after the 1-0, the SCP "played in a frenzy".
