Surprise eleven not to be held
VfB Stuttgart is firmly behind FC Bayern
November 25, 2023, 8:38 p.m
Last season, VfB Stuttgart was almost relegated, but now coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team is holding its own in the top group of the Bundesliga. The Swabians deserved to win at Eintracht Frankfurt. The game is marred by violence and an injury to the referee.
Double packer Deniz Undav nervously shifted from one leg to the other and repeatedly called for the final whistle from the replacement of the unfortunate record referee Felix Brych. When the impartial debutant Patrick Schwengers finally heard the Stuttgart striker, Undav jumped into the arms of his colleague Chris Führich, and the rest was Stuttgart celebration.
Thanks to Undav, the Swabians got a deserved 2-1 (2-1) against their long-time feared opponents Eintracht Frankfurt and secured themselves in third place in the table after Brych’s bitter record game. The referee had to stay in the dressing room at halftime due to a knee injury on his 344th appearance in the Bundesliga, which brought him level with Wolfgang Stark. “I thought, that can’t be true,” Brych said on Sky before he went to the university hospital with a suspected cruciate ligament rupture. He was replaced by the extremely confident fourth official Schwengers, who had previously only whistled four times in the second division.
“Not our best game, but we showed mentality”
It didn’t matter to VfB, they were already nine points ahead of SGE, who were also in good form recently. Undav (1st and 45th + 2) scored the first win against the Hessians after nine unsuccessful attempts and 2100 days. “It wasn’t our best game, but we showed mentality and fought hard,” said Undav, who set a club record with seven goals in the first nine games. Despite the highs, he advised VfB to “bake small rolls”.
Despite Waldemar Anton’s own goal (26th), it was Frankfurt’s first defeat after eight competitive games and their first home league defeat in 13 months. “It was a strange game, not very passionate,” said Eintracht captain Kevin Trapp on Sky. “We didn’t have a dangerous chance to score, which we always had in the last few weeks, it’s difficult for me to judge that clearly.”
“92 minutes of silence, of course that doesn’t help us”
VfB top scorer Serhou Guirassy initially sat down on the bench wrapped up because he was tired after his international trip with Guinea, but Undav stormed alone – and how! After just 57 seconds, the center forward cleverly put the ball past Trapp with the outside of his foot after a fantastic pass from Enzo Millot. The SGE did not allow itself to be shocked and quickly found its way into the game without the support of the northwest curve. The loud supporters left the arena before their turn because of what they saw as a disproportionate police operation. After 20 minutes they returned, but in silence. “92 minutes of quiet, that obviously doesn’t help us,” said Trapp, “otherwise the fans are a huge factor.”
Nevertheless, Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe (8th) and Ansgar Knauff (12th) had two good chances early on. Anton deflected a cross from Philipp Max so badly that the ball arced over Alexander Nübel from around 22 meters into the goal, making the connection. Shortly afterwards, Brych grabbed his knee after a slip, but was able to continue after more than three minutes of treatment. At 1:2, Undav nodded a cross from Maximilian Mittelstädt perfectly against Trapp’s direction. Then Brych had to pass. After the somewhat extended break, VfB took control of the game and had m