CChristoph Baumgartner dealt VfB Stuttgart the next heavy blow in the relegation battle of the Bundesliga with a late brace. With the 1:2 (0:0) at the national rivals TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, VfB lost another victory. Coach Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side were in the lead for a long time in Friday night’s Bundesliga game thanks to a goal by Wataru Endo in the 58th minute. In the 85th and 90th minute, Baumgartner ensured that the Swabians had been waiting for a win for nine games. This means that VfB remains second to bottom in the table and must continue to fear having to take the next step into the second division after 2016 and 2019.
In front of 18,099 spectators in the Sinsheim stadium, which was not sold out – 22,000 were allowed – Hoffenheim made the leap to a place in the Champions League. The Stuttgarters have been waiting for success for the Kraichgauers for nine years.
The 2200 VfB fans in the away corner made a hell of a racket to support their battered team. Borna Sosa was also out of the Stuttgart team with a bruised knee. The not quite fit goalscorer Sasa Kalajdzic initially sat on the bench.
Two aluminum crackers in the first half
The first big chance for the initially superior TSG was missed by Pavel Kaderabek with a header – and then the game really picked up speed. Within less than two minutes, the ball crashed into both sides against Alu: First, Chris Führich hit the Hoffenheim post (19′) after a counterattack from close range, then Kaderabek hit the crossbar of the VfB goal. However, his captain Benjamin Hübner should have headed the 1-0 lead just before that.
A week after the bitter 1-1 draw against VfL Bochum with the equalizer in injury time, the Stuttgart team showed the right reaction. Omar Marmoush, in particular, caused a stir from the right and tested goalkeeper Oliver Baumann with a solid shot after half an hour.
Again and again the home side tried to succeed via crosses from national player David Raum. In the 43rd minute, Hoffenheim celebrated an alleged goal from Hübner. But referee Matthias Jöllenbeck rightly annulled the goal after consulting his video assistant Tobias Stieler. The VfB fans in the stands immediately rolled up their banner “Abolish video evidence”.
Later neck blow for VfB
Matarazzo gave a hopeful signal for the VfB supporters when Kalajdzic came on after the break. Hoffenheim first had to cope with the loss of Dennis Geiger, who was carried off the field in a daze. Stuttgart took advantage of the momentary confusion and took advantage of the corner kick: Kalajdzic headed it up and Endo was there at the far post to make it 1-0.
The persistence of Hoffenheim was then rewarded: Baumgartner scored with a flick to equalize. Your trainer Sebastian Hoeneß, who was German champion in 1999 with the VfB U17s and whose father Dieter used to manage Stuttgart, was even able to celebrate the first win against the Swabians on the fourth attempt because Baumgartner was still upping the ante.
