Borna Sosa threw herself on her back and cried. Atakan Karazor wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Sasa Kalajdzic shook Sosa and discussed, or maybe comforted him too. And Konstantinos Mavropanos? He stood straight, eyes wide, and then he slapped his forehead with his hand. What did I do there? And above all: why?
The first question could be answered with relentless clarity, because some mischievous person broadcast the decisive scene of this 1-1 draw between VfB Stuttgart and VfL Bochum up and down afterwards. You can see Mavropanos running towards an aimless Bochum ball in the fourth minute of added time, trying to let the ball roll out and blocking the opponent, if there is one at all, oh, watch out, there it is really one, shouldn’t I rather hit the ball away? Collisions of thoughts, in fractions of a second, mockingly displayed on the finest color television. Mavropanos prefers to swipe the ball away, and then several things happen at the same time.
Bochum’s Sebastian Polter runs past him, Mavropanos pulls out and slips and hits Polter while sliding. What are you supposed to do as a Bochumer Polter? fall, what else? And as Osmer’s referee you don’t have a choice either: you have to whistle for penalties. The rules do not provide for pity or an extra sanction for clumsiness.
Should VfB Stuttgart be relegated to the second division in the near future, the players, the staff and the hundred thousand supporters of this huge traditional club will all have the same image in their heads. You will not see the many other mishaps of the season, the missed penalties, the deflected goals, the numerous serious injuries and the even more numerous corona diagnoses, not all the pass errors and the defensive errors. You’ll see Mavropanos accidentally flattening that polter. And maybe they’ll let the image in their head continue for a moment and see the complete nonchalance with which Bochum’s Eduard Löwen converted the following penalty.
They have been waiting for such a lucky opening goal at VfB for months
At this point, the players, the staff, the hundred thousand followers and above all Konstantinos Mavropanos should stop the film. Otherwise you will see the crying Sosa again, the agitated Kalajdzic, the stunned Mavropanos. And most importantly, you see this giant question mark behind the second question: why did I do that? Not even Mavropanos himself knows the answer.
Heartbroken: Konstantinos Mavropanos after the final whistle.
(Photo: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)
A lot has happened to VfB Stuttgart in the past few months, and all the minor and major setbacks have piled up into a comprehensive overload for this young team. Anyone who knows football knows what helps in such a situation: A dirty win, as it is called in technical jargon, against VfL Bochum, preferably 1-0, after an own goal. And that’s exactly what happened: After a corner kick from Stuttgart’s Chris Führich and a subsequent header from Orel Mangala, Bochum’s Armel Bella Kotchap extended the ball into her own goal (56′). A lucky goal, but still deserved because the Stuttgart team had been remarkably disciplined and even inspired at times. It was exactly this story that VfB needed to start the much-needed race to catch up now that all the injured and sick are gradually reporting back to duty. And FC Augsburg, direct competitor in the relegation battle, had also lost.
The 94th minute turned that story on its head. Now it reads like this: Despite a decent performance, VfB Stuttgart suffered the next setback and gave up two points in the 94th minute. Striker Silas, on the way to his old form after an eight-month break, has dislocated his shoulder and is in danger of being out for a long time again. And Arminia Bielefeld, direct competitor in the relegation battle, also won.
If Murphy’s Law really exists – that wisdom according to which everything that can go wrong will go wrong – then VfB footballers can apply with good prospects as testimonials. Although you can’t rule out that the amount of stupid things that the Stuttgarters inflict on themselves is also gradually becoming embarrassing for Mr. Murphy.
Mangala misses a chance that should never be missed – and certainly not in the relegation battle
“It sucks and it hurts,” said Stuttgart coach Pellegrino Matarazzo later, and at least they are honest enough at VfB not to hide behind dark forces in their analyzes. “We have to win this game because we were able to close the sack several times,” said the coach. Sporting director Sven Mislintat put it this way: “We could have rewarded ourselves 2-0 early and had to close the game. We have to take credit for that.”
There was a second colored picture that evening, not only that of the clumsy Mavropanos. The picture from the 76th minute also explains a lot or everything about this eleven: The excellent winger Führich (who was of course injured twice this season and once had corona disease) surprised Bochum’s defense with a lob, and suddenly Mangala was so free in front of goalkeeper Riemann, how to actually not stand free in the relegation battle. Mangala didn’t shoot, he hesitated, and then somehow wriggled the ball to the goalkeeper’s body. Ten minutes later, Wataru Endo missed the next big chance, after a back-heel combination that is rarely seen in the table basement.
That technically gifted teams have a hard time in the relegation battle is just as old a wisdom as that such wasted opportunities can take revenge (none of the wisdom comes from Mr. Murphy, by the way). In Stuttgart they are now trying to give the story a new twist, they have no other choice: “So much is going against us this season and that’s why we think ‘now more than ever’,” said coach Matarazzo and drafted for The last eleven games of the season have a concrete script including a final point: “If we can look back on this giant board after these eleven games and still celebrate, then that’s a bond that will last a lifetime.”
Prognosis: Konstantinos Mavropanos would celebrate the most, Borna Sosa would cry tears of joy. The problem: You would have to take a few chances and win a few games beforehand.