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VfB Stuttgart – 1. FC Köln 3: 0: Finally a threesome! VfB and Labbadia breathe a sigh of relief

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Bruno Labbadia managed to break free with VfB Stuttgart. The Swabians celebrate their first Bundesliga win under the new coach against 1. FC Köln.

Bruno Labbadia high-fived his players with relief, “Paradise City” by Guns n’ Roses blasted out of the stadium speakers. Labbadia has not yet achieved the “paradise” relegation with VfB Stuttgart, but with his first Bundesliga victory as the new coach of the Swabians at the sixth attempt, he at least has a redeeming stage goal.

The VfB fans jumped and celebrated their team after the 3-0 (1-0) win against the weak 1. FC Köln, while the Stuttgart team also euphorically celebrated the sense of achievement. “It’s just extremely cool. Winning is a feeling that nothing else can give you. That was very important,” said goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow, who only found out about his promotion to number one on Thursday. Stuttgart finally got three points in their sixth league game under the new coach.

Winter signing Gil Dias (9th) with a remarkable flick with his first Bundesliga goal and Borna Sosa (59th) with a directly converted free kick put VfB on the road to victory. Joker Tanguy Coulibaly (74th) secured Stuttgart’s first success since the beginning of November. Cologne missed the leap into the top half of the table. Ellyes Skhiri was lucky that his hard foul on Dias was only penalized with a yellow card (65th).

Cologne lost for the first time in 2023. “We defended poorly when we conceded. The final consistency was also missing in the box,” said captain Jonas Hector sky.

Stuttgart – Cologne: Last-minute purchases ensure VfB leadership

The VfB fans awaited their favorites with a clear message on a banner below the Cannstatt curve: “Start winning – for you, for us, for our VfB!” CEO Alexander Wehrle mentioned this sky “To the point”, but otherwise tried to take the drama out of the situation: He emphasized that it was “much too early” to talk about a final.

Labbadia set the tone with the line-up: He included Konstantinos Mavropanos and Silas in the starting line-up – the latter because he believed that “with his passion for football” he could cause problems for FC “behind the chain”. That only worked to a limited extent because Silas tried hard but was not very goal-oriented.

The Stuttgart lead was a co-production of two last-minute purchases: After a one-two with Genki Haraguchi, Dias circled the ball into the goal with his left hand from 13 meters. Like Dias, Silas (26′) could have increased with a near-copy of his goal (40′) and Mavropanos (41′).

Cologne owed everything in the first half. Bredlow, who replaced Florian Müller as number one, rarely had to intervene. In an initially more offensive role than usual, Skhiri gave no impetus.

In the second half, VfB switched to counterattacks and repeatedly embarrassed the visitors’ defense around Stuttgart-born Nikola Soldo, who replaced Timo Hübers (suspended). Goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe prevented the guests from losing even more.

VfB Stuttgart – 1. FC Cologne: The voices

Bruno Labbadia (coach VfB Stuttgart): “We came in well and scored a nice goal. After that you could see that we lacked the confidence to continue because we had a bit of a dip. We had problems after half-time too, so the second goal was extremely important. Nice, That we won is what the team needed. It was an important step – nothing more, nothing less. We have to keep at it.”

Steffen Baumgart (Coach 1. FC Cologne): “We didn’t do a lot of things as well as we should have done to win. I felt like we were up to 2-0, we had chances before where the toe wasn’t. After that the game was over and you leave the field as a deserved loser.”

VfB Stuttgart – 1. FC Cologne: The data for the game

Stuttgart: Bredlow – Anton(81st Stenzel), Mavropanos, Ito, Sosa – Karazor, Endo, Haraguchi (80th Millot), Dias (73rd Coulibaly), Führich (81st Vagnoman) – Katompa Mvumpa (86th Pfeiffer). – Trainer: Labbadia

Cologne: Schwäbe – Schmitz (64th Schindler), Soldo, Chabot, Hector – Martel (46th Ljubicic) – Huseinbasic (46th Adamyan), Kainz (64th Thielmann) – Skhiri – Maina (75th Selke), Tigges. – Trainer: Baumgart

Referee: Benjamin Cortus (Roethenbach)

Gates: 1-0 Dias (9′), 2-0 Sosa (59′), 3-0 Coulibaly (74′)

Viewers: 46,850

Yellow cards: Katompa Mvumpa, Mavropanos, Millot – Chabot, Schmitz, Skhiri, Adamyan

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