“Nine, and no reply”

A place in the next round of the DFB-Pokal was at stake on Monday; by the final whistle, Hamburger SV had made the contest look less like a cup tie than a relentless count-up. Heider SV were beaten 9-0, with 73 per cent of possession and 19 shots on target to their name. Heider managed two shots, neither on target.

The gap between the sides was already plain in the totals, but Pavel Kalchev gave it a face. Hamburger’s player of the match scored three goals, supplied two assists and created eight key passes, while completing 55 of 64 passes and covering 12.7 kilometres. His rating of 10.0 was as close to a perfect numerical verdict as a match could offer.

Hamburger finished with 28 shots to Heider’s two, and 5.19 expected goals against 0.15. That is not a small advantage dressed up by possession: it is the difference between repeated threat and almost none. The away side also won 13 corners to Heider’s one, hit the woodwork once and completed 539 of 595 passes. Heider completed 204 of 264.

Kalchev was not the only source of damage. Nahue Reuss scored twice and had four of his five shots on target, alongside three key passes. He was replaced at 45+4', but the pressure did not depart with him. Kostas Skoumbros came on at 45' and provided an assist; Daniel Corgozinho entered at 59' and contributed a goal and an assist. Almir Radaković added a goal and an assist before being replaced at 64'. The scoreline kept swelling even as Hamburger changed personnel.

For Heider, there was little room to turn possession into relief. Their 27 per cent share yielded one corner and no clear-cut chances. Bernhard Dröse and Francesco Mantovani each received a 6.0 rating, while Yannik Gerlach was rated 5.9. Those figures sit beside a match in which the home side’s two attempts never tested the target.

Hamburger’s control was not entirely immaculate: Vanja Kovačić-Pusic was booked in the seventh minute and Neizan Pestano in the 74th. Pestano also had three shots worth 0.67 expected goals, but missed his chances. Still, the visitors’ 19 efforts on target meant those moments of waste barely interrupted the larger pattern.

Nine goals is the headline; the supporting numbers make it harder to dismiss as a freakish scoreline. Hamburger produced more than a dozen times as many shots on target, and its 5.19 expected goals measure was more than 34 times Heider’s 0.15. A cup tie can turn on one missed chance or one untidy spell. This one had neither the balance nor the breathing space to pretend.