16th matchday
VfB goes into the break with a club record
VfB Stuttgart prevailed at home against FC Augsburg. photo
© Tom Weller/dpa
VfB Stuttgart rounds off a fantastic first half of the season with a deserved win against a harmless FC Augsburg. The Swabians have never been so successful in the first half of the season.
Thanks to its goal-scoring duo Serhou Guirassy and Deniz Undav, VfB Stuttgart has successfully completed its successful football year and with a Club record refined.
A good six months after relegation, the Swabians pushed past RB Leipzig with a 3-0 (2-0) win against FC Augsburg and said goodbye to the Christmas break in third place.
Undav (18th minute), Guirassy (45th + 1) and Chris Führich (69th) led the hosts to their eleventh success in the first half of the season, which only ended in January. Stuttgart have never had so many wins in the first half of the Bundesliga season – not even in 1991/92, when they became German champions.
The fact that VfB already has more points (34) than at the end of the entire last season (33) underlines the impressive development. At the beginning of June, the Swabians avoided a debacle in the relegation against Hamburger SV.
FCA winless again
FCA suffered its second defeat under coach Jess Thorup in December and remained winless in the third game in a row, but survived the winter with a reassuring lead above the relegation zone.
After the sobering 3-0 flop at FC Bayern last Sunday, VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß had hoped for a reaction from his team – and saw a well-deserved success against harmless Augsburg in front of 53,600 spectators. The hosts clearly controlled the game.
The unusually quiet stadium atmosphere in which the fans continued their protest against the investor plans of the German Football League (DFL) with twelve minutes of restraint had just ended when the spectators were able to watch dangerous scenes from Undav: At first he failed a one-two with Guirassy still at the post (13th).
Just a few minutes later things went better and Undav was happy to make it 1-0 with an assist from Angelo Stiller: A half-high corner from his teammate reached the free-standing Undav in the six-yard box, and the ball flew from the inside post into the net. Augsburg conceded at least one goal in the 19th Bundesliga game in a row. And it shouldn’t stay that way against the surprise team of the season so far.
17th goal of the season for Guirassy
Undav’s strike partner Guirassy initially struggled when Jamie Leweling tried in vain himself – instead of playing to him (34th). Then the Swabians’ top scorer missed his big chance to score after Augsburg’s goalkeeper Finn Dahmen let the ball rebound again. Guirassy then ran towards Dahmen alone following preparatory work from Undav and took the opportunity to score his 17th Bundesliga goal of the season. Before the game there had already been speculation as to whether the sought-after striker might play his last game for VfB against Augsburg and move on during the winter break. At the end of the year he was applauded again.
The guests had little success and didn’t make things particularly difficult for VfB. VfB goalkeeper Alexander Nübel had a quiet evening in the first half. That changed promptly after the break when he directed a long-range shot from Ermedin Demirovic over the crossbar (48th). Philip Tietz’s header wasn’t placed enough (67th) to really challenge him.
On the other side, Führich made everything clear with a direct pass after a fantastic pass from Stiller. The hosts could have won even more if they had had more chances – Atakan Karazor’s shot hit the crossbar a quarter of an hour before the end.