Status: 19.09.2021 6:11 p.m.
There was nothing to be done against the fast Bayer attackers, even in the majority: VfB Stuttgart lost an astonishingly clear 1: 3 (1: 2) against Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Sunday afternoon (19.09.2021).
VfB and Bayer had stood for a lot of spectacle in the course of the season so far – both teams apparently wanted to live up to this reputation on Sunday afternoon. In any case, it took less than three minutes for the ball to be in the goal for the first time. In the one from Stuttgart. After the Swabians had defended too carelessly, Leverkusen’s Mitchel Bakker was able to cross from the left completely free and Robert Andrich had no trouble standing at the far post: he turned his head to 0: 1.
The VfB remained unsorted, which also had to do with Bayer’s undaunted tempo football. Even if everything did not go exactly on time, Bayer’s individual class and dynamism were responsible for increasingly dangerous situations in the VfB half. When Florian Wirtz started an energetic sprint on the right wing in the 18th minute and the ball cleverly crossed from the baseline, Patrick Schick didn’t have to do much in the middle: keep his foot in – 0: 2.
Andrich brutal – Red card against Bayer’s midfielder
Tanguy Coulibaly (l.) And Jeremie Frimpong (r.) In a duel
Image: Sebastian Widmann / Getty Images
But Bayer may have thought that “anyone can do it easily” – and brought the opponent back into the game without further ado. In the form of a completely superfluous red card. Andrich reached in the 32nd minute in midfield really nasty against Stuttgart’s Tanguy Coulibaly. And referee Benjamin Cortus decided according to the slow motion: Red card. Leverkusen was only ten. And a little later also only led with one goal: Stuttgart’s Orel Mangala dusted off to 1: 2 in the 38th minute after Bayer’s keeper Lukas Hradecky had parried a Konstantinos Mavorpanos header.
Leverkusen is waiting for a counterattack
The game seemed open again, especially since VfB continued to press the tube until the break whistle. But after changing sides it was suddenly gone, the Stuttgart self-confidence. They ran up, but the decimated Leverkusen were just waiting for this and the staging of counterattacks. Moussa Diaby should have used one of these quick counterattacks in the 60th minute to make it 1: 3. But striving for the VfB goal alone, his nerves failed in front of the opponent’s box – he shot past.
Wirtz decides the game
A little later, Mavropanos directed a violent shot from Wirtz with his head to the corner. In the 70th minute, however, the time had come: The increasingly stronger Wirtz – as a reminder: He is only 18 – started with the ball at the center line, could no longer be stopped and closed with his left foot ice cold into the far corner. 1: 3 – the decision.
Of the VfB Stuttgart plays next Sunday (September 26th, 2021, 3:30 p.m.) at VfL Bochum. Leverkusen will continue on Saturday (3:30 p.m.) at home against Mainz 05.
Source: sportschau.de