Nothing again! VfB Stuttgart and Schalke 04 are still waiting for their redeeming first win of the season in the Bundesliga after the 1-1 (1-1) draw.
Frank Kramer high-fived his worn-out players one after the other, but the Schalke 04 coach couldn’t be satisfied with this point win either. In the 1:1 (1:1) duel of the winless at VfB Stuttgart, the promoted team was close to the redeeming first win of the season – but joker Rodrigo Zalazar missed the possible winning goal twice in the hectic final phase (89th / 90th + 1 ).
Chris Führich (18′) gave VfB the lead, which S04 captain Simon Terodde answered immediately with his first goal of the season (21′). But even the yellow-red card against Josha Vagnoman from Stuttgart (67th/repeated foul play) could not be used by Schalke for their first away win in the Bundesliga since November 2019. VfB sport director Sven Mislintat saw yellow (75th) because of persistent complaints.
“After the 1-1 draw, we went into their game instead of playing ours because we weren’t smart enough, we weren’t cool enough,” said Mislintat sky. He had a clear opinion on Vagnoman’s dismissal: “We clearly have to play eleven against eleven here, the Polter was also allowed to continue playing. Stop that shit!” However, Mislintat added, “we must not stop playing football either and must learn to finish football games with 11 men”.
The suspended Stuttgart coach Pellegrino Matarazzo rejected his not serious “plan” to hide in the costume of the mascot Fritzle and left the direction to his assistant Michael Wimmer.
VfB Stuttgart – FC Schalke 04: Zalazar awards a possible winning goal
He saw a nervous start in game one after the departure of top striker Sasa Kalajdzic. A real target was missing in attack, Kalajdzic substitute Serhou Guirassy came on in the 83rd minute.
Schalke completely dispensed with last-minute access Kenan Karaman, while defensive reinforcement Sepp van den Berg began – and proved to be an uncertainty factor. Silas used a stick fault by the Dutchman to assist Führich, who scored to make it 1-0. The immediate equalizer resulted from a bad pass from Kostas Mavropanos in the build-up.
In a duel marked by mistakes on both sides, Schalke’s starting eleven debutant Jordan Larsson had the 1: 2 on his foot shortly before the break (41st). After a clever pass from the Swede, Terodde also missed the possible lead for the guests (43rd).
In the second half, VfB had more of the game for a long time without creating too many compelling chances. Schalke tried to save themselves in front of 47,500 spectators at the sold-out Mercedes-Benz Arena construction site in temporary counter-attacks, most of which fizzled out early.
In order to liven up the offensive, coach Andre Breitenreiter brought in two new players in Rodrigo Zalazar and Sebastian Polter (both 65th), but it was defensive player Tobias Mohr, who also came on as a substitute, who forced the dismissal. The second guest goal was in the air with the following free kick, but Polter acted too hesitantly (68th). Substitute Zalazar (89th) missed the possible Schalke winning goal miserably.
VfB Stuttgart – Schalke 04: The voice of the coach
Pellegrino Matarazzo (VfB Stuttgart coach): “It was a decent start, not a good one. And we were outnumbered. Everything else wasn’t enough, for me it was the worst game of the season. We had an extremely large number of unnecessary turnovers, we weren’t sharp, we weren’t lively, the timing was always wrong , a certain unrest there. The offensive game didn’t take place after the goal was conceded. We didn’t play football anymore, so you can’t win a game like that.”
Frank Kramer (Schalke 04 coach): “The deficit was a bit unfortunate, due to an individual mistake that shouldn’t happen like that. Then my team showed a very good reaction and a very committed performance. In the end we could have made more of the good closing situations. But we have a good one Shown face and united, presented as a unit. We’re happy with the point.”
