No Serhou Guirassy, no points: Without their top scorer, VfB Stuttgart loses touch with the top of the table in the Bundesliga. With a delay of around 40 minutes after the half-time break, the Swabians lost 0-1 (0-0) at VfL Bochum and suffered their fourth defeat in the fourth game of the season without the national player from Guinea.
VfB fans had dragged out the game in the Ruhrstadion considerably because they apparently blocked escape goals with flags. After the late restart, Matus Bero (50th) scored the winning goal for Bochum, who moved into mid-table with their third win in the last four home games. Stuttgart lost its third away game in a row. In particular, Guirassy, who is in action at the Africa Cup of Nations, was sorely missed.
The second half began when the last minutes were already running in the other stadium. Because fence flags in the Stuttgart curve apparently blocked the escape routes, referee Bastian Dankert initially refused to whistle the game again. Despite several loudspeaker announcements, the banners were not taken down, and VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß also talked to the supporters in vain.
Fifteen minutes late, the teams returned to the field to warm up. The VfB players ran to their fans and tried to influence them – without result. Meanwhile, the Bochum supporters sang “Ice-cold Bommerlunder” so as not to get too cold. On the field, referees and officials from both clubs discussed excitedly. According to Sky broadcaster, the fire department was also consulted. Finally, Dankert whistled to start the game, even though the flags had not been removed.
Bochum survived the long break better: Bero took advantage of the hosts’ first effective attack to make it 1-0 – Christopher Antwi-Adjei had laid the ball on for the Slovakian. Stuttgart responded with furious attacks, Jamie Leweling (58th) and Angelo Stiller (61st) missed the goal by just centimeters.
Before the half-time break, which lasted almost an hour, both teams played football to break the habit. Even though the Bochum team started aggressively as usual, VfB created the first chances: Deniz Undav, cleared by Chris Führich, was first denied by goalkeeper Manuel Riemann (5th), then he headed past the goal completely unmarked (10th). When the renewed twelve-minute boycott against the Bundesliga’s investor deal was over, the game completely stopped. It was obvious that Takuma Asano and Guirassy were missing the strongest offensive forces on both sides. Without Asano, who was required at the Asian Cup, Bochum lost the pace and Stuttgart missed their goalscorer. What was even more blatant, however, was that VfL had no line at all in their offensive game without Kevin Stöger, who was ill.
The half-time whistle was the highlight of the first half. Hoeneß had only made one change compared to the 1:3 at the end of the first half of the season at Borussia Mönchengladbach: Leweling was in the starting line-up for Pascal Stenzel. His Bochum colleague Thomas Letsch had to do without not only Stöger at short notice, but also the ailing Keven Schlotterbeck.