Kaiserslautern players celebrate their Saturday night 3-1 win over Düsseldorf at Fritz Walter Stadium. (Facebook/1.FC Kaiserslautern)
The Red Devils climbed back into third place in the second division standings with a 3-1 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday night.
Kaiserslautern scored first at a sold-out Fritz Walter Stadium when Marlon Ritter scored in the 14th minute with a right footer from about 17 yards out.
The Red Devils appeared to go up 2-0 when Jan Elvedi scored in the 32nd minute, but the replay referee quashed the goal because of a hand ball by an FCK player.
Instead, it was Fortuna that tied the score 15 minutes into the second half when Tim Oberdorf converted following a corner kick.
Ragnar Ache put the Red Devils up 2-1 in the 73rd minute, scoring his 16th goal of the season with a header off a Florian Kleinhansl corner.
Düsseldorf had two good scoring opportunities in the 81st and 87th minutes, but it was Luca Sirch who put the game away for FCK in the third minute of stoppage time. Taking a pass from Filip Kaloc, he sent a right footer past Düsseldorf keeper Florian Kastenmaier for the 3-1.
The win, coupled with losses and ties by the competition, puts the Red Devils in third place with 46 points, one ahead of Paderborn, with seven games remaining.
Next up for Kaiserslautern is a Sunday game next week against fifth-place Magdeburg, which is three points behind the team from the Betzenberg.
The Red Devils are back at Fritz Walter Stadium for another Saturday night game on April 12, against Nuremberg.
March 30, 2025 10:56
