After his own derby drama: Sunny Kittel watches HSV crime thriller live in Australia

It was 10:30 pm on a Sunday when Sonny Kittal was sitting in front of his tablet. The former HSV professional had chosen a live stream for his evening performance – a game broadcast of his former club at 1. FC Magdeburg. On his Instagram story, Kittel posted a picture showing the game now in the 52nd minute and HSV trailing 0-2 and outnumbered. But Kittel watched digitally as his former club fought back to a 2-2 draw. All this after the 31-year-old enjoyed a bit of drama, including last-minute goals in Australia the previous day.

The tumultuous history of the game really seemed to have already been written. On Saturday, there was a city derby in the Australian A-League between Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers – the club Kittel has been on loan from since early February. After leaving HSV in the summer, the attacker was not really happy with Rakow Czestochowa, so after six months and 22 competitive games with the Polish first division club (four goals, one assist) he was sent to Australia in the winter.

Former HSV professional Kittel suffered a derby defeat in Sydney

Kittel quickly earned a regular place at the Wanderers, most recently starting three times in a row and shining as a goal scorer and assist in a 3-1 win over Macarthur FC in early April. In the city clash against Sydney FC at the weekend, the Gisen native had to sit on the bench – coming on as a substitute in the 68th minute when the score was 0-0.

Once Kittel was a joker, his club fell behind: Fabio Gomes scored for Sydney FC to take the lead (72nd). As did Jonas Meffert for HSV in Magdeburg, the Wanderers equalized in the fifth minute of injury time: Kittel's teammate Zachary Sapsford made it 1-1 – but not the final score. Because the hosts struck again through Jayden Kucharski's (90th + 8) man, plunging the Wanderers into the valley of tears.

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With 24 match days now completed after the derby defeat, the Kittel club are sixth in the A-League – a place that will qualify for the play-off finals. But there are still three games to play in the regular season. Of course Kittel wants to start over there before returning to Poland – far from Magdeburg and the HSV, which he continues to follow from afar and carries in his heart.