A volume that pierced earplugs, showers of beer that even descended on the press stand, thousands of people dressed in white and red who stormed onto the pitch after the final whistle: without a doubt, the most emotional sensory impressions of this 34th matchday were provided by the Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt location, where VfB Stuttgart exchanged relegation rank 16 with Hertha BSC with a goal in injury time and thus managed to stay up in the league. They lost 2-1 in Dortmund at the same time.
“I’ve got a skull after all the shouting and cheering”
In the previous home game against Wolfsburg, they only scored one point just before they had zero points. This time, well after 5:15 p.m., it looked as if VfB would go out of the game with just one point – which is two relegation games against them would have resulted in a second division third party to be determined. Of the tens of thousands who celebrated on the pitch after the game and only made room for the team to do a lap of honor 70 minutes after the final whistle, nobody was interested in whether it was ultimately more last-minute luck that brought Stuttgart direct relegation . Or the proven will to make the impossible possible in the last three games. “I’ve got a skull after all the shouting and the cheering,” confessed even the otherwise so relaxed VfB coach Pellegrino Matarazzo. “It was ecstasy, a great moment. You never forget something like that.”
The decision: Wataru Endo hits the header to make it 2-1.
(Photo: Robin Rudel/Imago)
Shortly before the collective ecstasy in Swabia, it looked as if the 5,000 Cologne fans were right with their mockery of Stuttgart’s supposed future in the second division. After an optimal pass from Borna Sosa, Saša Kalajdžic ran freely towards the Cologne goal, but let himself be run off by the much faster opponent. VfB looked flat and worn out at this point, but then got a corner kick out of it. Hiroki Ito extended the ball kicked by Chris Führich to the back post, where Wataru Endo was free. The rest was a merry-go-round of players topped by a totally unleashed coach Matarazzo. And the new realization that even a massive 60,000-man stadium can wobble alarmingly. At least when all four sides of the grandstand jump up and down in the same rhythm. In any case, goalscorer Endo only slightly exaggerated when he said he saw an “exploding stadium”.
The dramaturgy begins: Stuttgart misses a penalty and immediately takes the lead
Matarazzo had announced that VfB wanted to act energetically and courageously in the early stages – also to convince themselves that they actually still had a chance of jumping off the shovel on their own. Accordingly, VfB started and kept their audience happy. The story of the early Stuttgart goal by Kalajdžić fitted perfectly into the dramaturgy of this afternoon, which was characterized by massive mood swings. Because it fell just a few seconds after the Austrian failed with a penalty kick, which was not bad in itself, on the best goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe from Cologne. It is well known that missed penalties are ideally suited to dramatically dampening the good spirits and confidence of the team and the public. It was all the more important that the fans, some of whom had their hands in front of their faces in desperation, were able to tear themselves up to celebrate the goal just seconds later. Kalajdzic simply headed in the following corner to make it 1-0.
Stuttgart’s coach Pellegrino Matarazzo (lr), Stuttgart’s Sasa Kalajdzic and Stuttgart’s Tiago Barreiros de Melo Tomas cheer after Endo’s goal to make it 2-1.
(Photo: Tom Weller/dpa)
The way in which VfB missed their numerous chances to score would have been the subject of heated debate had the game gone unfavorably. How negligently Tiago Tomas (9th), Konstantinos Mavropanos (17th), Wataru Endo (32nd/35th) and Kalajdžić (21st/53rd) missed the best chances could have been discussed, as well as a considerable drop in pressure in some phases of the game second half or the fact that VfB goalkeeper Florian Müller blundered badly when Anthony Modeste (59th) conceded the goal to make it 1-1.
The game, this impression arose, could well have ended in a Stuttgart defeat if FC hadn’t played in the first half the way you might play when the scoreboard shows a clear 2-0 lead by the biggest Competitors for sixth place, Union Berlin, lights up. It was only when Bochum came closer to the Alte Försterei that Cologne got better in the second half and duped VfB time and time again. But really good mood did not want to come up in the Cologne block.
By the time the Stuttgart officials got the fans ready for the players to start the lap of honour, the Cologne fans had long since headed north-west in their buses. You can begrudge them that, despite all the anger about just missing out on a Europa League place, they came to a similar conclusion to the season as the FC coach, who only briefly analyzed the game: “We wanted our way of playing football this season play, implement,” said Steffen Baumgart. “We want to carry the performance from this season into the next.”