VfB Stuttgart mourned the loss of two points, Arminia Bielefeld was satisfied after the draw in the basement duel with one point and leaving the direct relegation zone.
VfB Stuttgart’s usury of chances was punished in the end. “We are not satisfied, satisfied with the performance, but we deserved three points,” said VfB sports director Sven Mislintat after the 1-1 (1-0) in the basement duel at Arminia Bielefeld on Sky. The Swabians had many, many opportunities, but were too careless with them.
Most recently, the Stuttgarters had scored with incredible morale, this time the East Westphalia could feel like secret winners, because the direct relegation zone was given to Hertha BSC (1: 2 in Leverkusen). Frank Kramer’s Arminia also achieved at least a partial success after four bankruptcies.
Goalscorer Sasa Kalajdzic with a hand penalty (25′) gave VfB the lead in front of 26,011 spectators in the SchücoArena, Florian Krüger (60′) equalized.
“After two years, the stadium was full again, an amazing feeling. We never gave up and came back. 16th place is a snapshot. We’ll see what the point is worth in the end,” emphasized goal scorer Krüger. Teammate Robin Hack added on sky-Mic: “Overall, we’re happy with the point. We have to keep working and stepping on the gas.”
Bielefeld against VfB: Stuttgart closer to 2-0
Stuttgart has taken eight points from the past four games, while Arminia have been waiting for a win since mid-February. But that was irrelevant after the draw.
Bielefeld’s creative player Patrick Wimmer gave the Swabians the lead: After a corner, the Austrian awkwardly went to the ball – and it jumped on his outstretched arm. After a short check on the touchline, referee Patrick Ittrich pointed to the penalty spot, Kalajdzic converted safely.
With the opening goal, security returned to the VfB game. The Matarazzo team missed the preliminary decision against two top-class players: first Chris Führich aimed just wide of the post (38′), a minute later Omar Marmoush ran towards the goal alone against Arminen, who had moved up a long way, but pushed the ball past the far corner. Above all, this chance caused discussions at VfB afterwards.
Even after the break, Stuttgart was initially closer to the second goal than the hosts were to equalize. A direct acceptance by Tiago Tomas swept over the bar (54′). The 1-1 came almost out of nowhere: Krüger stole away behind the defense and effortlessly pushed a high cross extended by Janni Serra into the goal – Arminia was able to celebrate for the first time after four games without a goal.
Tomas was again denied by Bielefeld keeper Stefan Ortega (66′) – and Stuttgart’s usury of chances continued: Ortega first parried a shot from Pascal Stenzel, then deflected a Mavropanos header to the right post (78′).
Arminia Bielefeld – VfB Stuttgart: The voices of the game
Frank Kramer (Bielefeld coach): “We started well, played well and had a clear structure. We got a little out of step with the hand penalty. It’s understandable that the team then needed a bit. What they invested after that is what what the fans are expecting. We know we have to work hard for every point and we appreciate the result in this situation.”
Pellegrino Matarazzo (Stuttgart coach): “I hope Fabian Klos isn’t as bad as it looked on TV. If you look at how the game went, it’s two points too few for us. We didn’t get along with Bielefeld’s structure. Even after the 1-1 draw we had regular chances to get back in front. We take the point and the performance over the 70 minutes.”
