These two fierce Hanseatic foes haven’t graced the Bundesliga together since 2011, so it was fitting that Hamburg’s first home match since their readmission to the top table was against their hostile neighbours.
Noise and colour filled the Volksparkstadion, but the visitors rode their momentum from their remarkable comeback against Borussia Dortmund last weekend, and stunned the home crowd inside 20 minutes.
Mathias Pereira Lage followed a corner with a low cross into the area, and Adam Dźwigała nipped in front of Miro Muheim to divert inside Daniel Heuer Fernandes’ near post.
The hosts were then fortunate that Andréas Hountondji was judged to have fouled Jordan Torunarigha as the Burnley loanee broke towards goal, but Pereira Lage then only had himself to blame for not making it two as his shot faded wide with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Given that Hamburg had only lost two of the last five matches in which they went behind first, they emerged after the break with vigour, but were left disappointed when Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer was called offside by VAR after netting just two minutes after the restart.
Hamburg remained in control, and Miro Muheim’s powerful free-kick had to be saved by Nikola Vasilj, but they were caught on the counter to go two behind just before the hour mark.
Joel Fujita made it with a deft touch and defence-splitting through ball to Hountondji, who rounded the goalkeeper and passed in from a tight angle.
The jubilation in the away end was met with frustration on the pitch from the home side, whose intent to get back into the game only resulted in Giorgi Gocholeishvili being shown a second yellow card for a robust challenge on Pereira Lage.
There was no route of return from there, and Alexander Blessin’s side cruised to victory, looking every bit of an established Bundesliga side.
Bragging rights in northern Germany, therefore, go to the Millerntor – at least until January – while it was an unhappy home return to Bundesliga home matches for Hamburg, with the result actually ending a three-match top-flight winning streak at this venue.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Joel Fujita (St Pauli)