HSV, Bremen and Elversberg end pre-season with games against Ligue 1 opponents

Hamburger SV, SV Elversberg and Werder Bremen played their last pre-season games against Ligue 1 clubs on Saturday. While the first two beat Toulouse and Lorient, Bremen lost to Auxerre at Weserstadion.

Merlin Polzin’s side scored late in their win away at Toulouse, who replaced Carles Martínez with Jens Berthel Askou after the Spaniard coach joined Bayer Leverkusen. Albert Grønbæk’s 91st-minute strike was the winner after Otto Stange’s early strike was cancelled by Santiago Hidalgo.

Germany U19 international Stange had an excellent pre-season as he’s set to play a bigger role next season. HSV are currently working on several new signings with Fabio Vieira, Sebastian Bornauw and Terem Moffi heavily linked with the club.

Hamburg’s neighbours Bremen pulled off a spectacular feat in the transfer market on Friday as they signed former HSV captain Ludovit Reis. However, they lost their first home game of the season to Auxerre, with Belgium youth international Arthur Piedfort scoring the winner.

Karim Coulibaly and Jens Stage could still leave the club in the next two weeks, but they were both in the starting lineup for the final pre-season game. Meanwhile, Dawid Kownacki and Skelly Alvero came off the bench despite several reports that they’re out of Daniel Thioune’s plans for the upcoming season.

Elsewhere, Elversberg ended their excellent pre-season with an impressive 4-1 win over Lorient. Lukasz Poreba, who used to play for Lorient’s league rivals Lens, opened the scoring before they added three goals after the restart.

Summer signings Noah Darvich and Cole Campbell were once again on the scoresheet, as well as 32-year-old striker Luca Schnellbacher. The newly-promoted side also recorded pre-season wins over Champions League participants NEC Nijmegen and last season’s Conference League semi-finalists Strasbourg.