On paper, it was exactly as Hannover 96 would have wanted it for their return to the Bundesliga. There was a capacity crowd of 49,000 inside the HDI-Arena for their first home game back in the top flight and by the end of it, a second win from two games sent them into the international break in the fledgling table’s top four, shoulder to shoulder with Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and (equally improbably) Hamburg.
In reality, there were more mixed feelings than euphoria as André Breitenreiter’s team extended their perfect start against Schalke on Sunday. “The first home game felt a little bit like an away game,” wrote Hannoversche Allgemeine’s Carsten Bergmann. What is happening on the pitch is almost a sideshow, as vocal Hannover fans rail against the plan of the long-serving president, Martin Kind, to take majority control of the club.
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