Bundesliga current: VfB Stuttgart only plays 1:1 against Leverkusen – Sport

There is a narrow gap at the Stuttgart stadium construction site through which spectators can catch a glimpse of the players in the catacombs on their way home. A good dozen VfB fans discovered the gap after the game – and applauded Borna Sosa and Tanguy Coulibaly, who looked back tiredly: The 1-1, which VfB couldn’t get past in a weak game against Leverkusen, brings their team only to a limited extent in the relegation battle.

VfB remains penultimate and now hopes, among other things, that Schalke will remain without a point in the last two games against Frankfurt and Leipzig – and that you can still achieve relegation rank or even a direct non-relegation zone in the games against Mainz and Hoffenheim. “We have to be pragmatic now, put this game behind us quickly and concentrate on the next two,” demanded VfB sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth after the game.

In fact, his team should have had reason to appear more self-confident and, above all, more offensive from the start in front of a full house. After all, VfB had not lost four of the last five games before. In addition, VfB needed a win all the more urgently because their competitor Bochum had beaten Augsburg the day before. But not for the first time this season, a pressure situation made for despondent offensive play and half-hearted advancement when in possession of the ball. That was the opposite approach to that of Bochum, who in the last two home games had pushed with all their might for an opening goal, which then promptly came.

Josha Vagnoman heads wide of the goal shortly before the end

It was different in Stuttgart on Sunday: Since Leverkusen also initially managed the game exclusively and refrained from playing to their speed advantage, the spectators saw an excruciatingly boring first half. At the end of which there was also the only possible result if a game went without any chance of scoring. The second half started in a similarly undramatic manner, and the game might have continued without a chance or a goal if so many penalties hadn’t been called these days. After Alejandro Palacios knocked Stuttgart’s Endo off his feet in a fight for the ball, Serhou Guirassy converted the penalty to make it 1-0 for the Swabians (57′).

Coach Xabi Alonso then ordered his team to move forward with energetic rowing movements, so that Leverkusen began to take an active part in the game after just over an hour. And promptly there was another penalty: After VfB keeper Fabian Bredlow, whose positional play was once again original in this scene, brought down Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba, Palacios scored to equalize 1-1 (70′).

The game became more entertaining, which was no feat given the uneventful first half. Josha Vagnoman, who headed the ball wide of the goal from just a few centimeters away, missed the biggest VfB chance of the game. That remained the biggest excitement of a weak Bundesliga game.

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