Saturday, October 16, 2021
Sharing of points in Gladbach
Stuttgart defies corona chaos and foal eleven
Despite major personnel concerns, VfB Stuttgart fought for an important point in the Bundesliga. The Swabians, who had to replace ten players due to some corona cases and injuries, can keep the distance to the relegation zone with a point win at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
With great commitment and the last squad, VfB Stuttgart has fought for an important point after its corona chaos. The Swabians, who had to replace ten players due to a few corona cases and injuries, achieved a 1: 1 (1: 1) at Borussia Mönchengladbach and thus continue to keep the distance to the relegation zone. The Gladbachers, however, missed the third win in a row and the jump to an international starting position.
In front of 41,608 spectators at Borussia-Park, Jonas Hofmann scored the equalizer (42nd minute) after Konstantionos Mavropanos had put the guests in the lead (15th). It was a tricky situation for Pellegrino Matarazzo after the corona chaos during the week.
Until Friday, the VfB coach did not know which goalkeeper he could use in the game. Finally, the substitute goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow, who had been tested negative after the quarantine, was able to play, the Bundesliga-inexperienced keeper Florian Schock sat on the bench. “Surely this is not an easy time with Corona for anybody. We have to go through that. I trust the boys to be effective today,” said the Stuttgart coach before the game. The Gladbachers were warned one way or another. Five months ago, VfB ended all the European Cup dreams of the Niederhein eleven with a 2-1 win at Borussia-Park.
And on Saturday, VfB proved to be an unpleasant opponent despite all the staffing problems and surprised the briskly beginning hosts with the opening goal from nowhere, when Mavropanos scored the 1-0 for the guests with a long-range shot early on. It was the sixth goal of a Stuttgart central defender this season.
Borussia, initially irritated by the deficit, was lucky that Tanguy Coulibaly missed the 2-0 for the Swabians in the 31st minute after a bad pass from Manu Koné. But the Gladbach attack efforts were rewarded by the worth seeing equalizer from national player Hofmann. Bredlow had previously reacted excellently to a shot by Luca Netz.
The Gladbachers remained the more active team, created a few good opportunities, but also had to be on their guard against counterattacks by the guests. The best opportunity for the hosts was initially given by captain Lars Stindl (50th) and then substitute Alassane Plea (68th / 78th). But the Stuttgart defense and goalkeeper Bredlow were in good shape and secured the third away point of the season with the draw.