The chaos season is not over yet: VfB Stuttgart missed out on staying up.
Suddenly it was very quiet in the otherwise loud Stuttgart Arena. The crash on the relegation place after a meager 1: 1 (0: 0) against TSG Hoffenheim put VfB in a state of shock – but only briefly. As the team stood in front of the fan stand with their heads bowed, there was encouraging applause for the relegation mission.
“We have to stay positive, it’s still in our own hands. We deserved a win today. The game is over, we have two more match points on Thursday and Monday,” said CEO Alexander Wehrle.
VfB is threatened with the third relegation in seven years, the fourth overall. The equalization of Tiago Tomas (80th) after a deficit by Ihlas Bebou (75th) was not enough. After a turbulent season with three changes of coach, the relegation on June 1st and 5th is against 1. FC Heidenheim or Hamburger SV.
“Today we can still be disappointed, from tomorrow we have to focus again,” said Waldemar Anton on Sky. The opponent in the relegation “doesn’t matter, we have to focus on ourselves. Everyone knows what will be important.”
VfB Stuttgart with negative relegation experience
But Stuttgart should be warned: When VfB had to play in relegation for the only time at the end of the 2018/19 season, Union Berlin was the third Bundesliga relegation in the club’s history.
“We have to do our thing,” Hoeneß emphasized before the final in the relegation battle. The initial situation was clear: if you win, you are saved. The scores from Leipzig and Leverkusen, where the two pursuers from Schalke and Bochum fought for points, were not announced in the stadium. So the Stuttgarters should concentrate fully on their own game.
But it was all to no avail: VfB wasn’t determined enough against the harmless Kraichgauer around former VfB coach Pellegrino Matarazzo. Serhou Guirassy (40th), Silas (53rd) and Chris Führich (62nd) had very good chances.
VfB Stuttgart – TSG Hoffenheim: The voices of the game
Sebastian Hoeneß (coach VfB Stuttgart): “We’re disappointed with the result, not necessarily with the game. We had good chances to take the lead, but we always lacked a bit of precision, a bit of clarity. We got over the deficit really well. Now we have to get over it make the league perfect in the next 180 minutes, we will tackle that with full conviction.”
Pellegrino Matarazzo (TSG Hoffenheim coach): “That was probably the first undeserved point since I took over here. We were too slow in the first half and never really found our way into the second half either. But the team showed character and fought for the point.”
VfB Stuttgart – TSG Hoffenheim: The data for the game
