VfB Stuttgart remains well in the race for participation in the Champions League thanks to a late deserved victory over their favorite opponent Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Swabians, who have been unbeaten in the Bundesliga for almost two months, won 3-0 (1-0) in Gladbach and celebrated their 17th victory overall on the Lower Rhine – more often than with any other opponent. Jamie Leweling (30th minute), an own goal from Joe Scally (67th) and substitute Deniz Undav (74th) scored the goals for coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team, which only became confident in the second half.
Leweling had previously caused a hand penalty against the Borussia team, who were initially more committed. However, VfB keeper Alexander Nübel (12th) parried Gladbach’s striker Haris Tabakovic’s attempt. With ten points from four Bundesliga games in January, the Swabians go into the Baden-Württemberg duel against SC Freiburg next Sunday in fourth place.
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Borussia, who have now been without a win for three games, are stagnating in eleventh place in the middle of the table. Against Stuttgart they were initially better in the game and more toxic in the duels. However, they repeatedly had bad luck in the last third of the attack. Header specialist Tabakovic in particular was unfortunate this time and revealed serious inadequacies with the ball at his feet.
The lead for the guests fell out of nowhere. Leweling was only able to take advantage of the first chance because Borussia’s defense wasn’t up to scratch. In an unfortunate move, Scally let the ball drip at the feet of the VfB attacker and the national player thanked him in his own way.
The lead gave the individually much stronger guests more security, while Gladbach looked more and more for offensive solutions. Although Borussia was better in the game overall, there were whistles from the north curve at halftime. Much more would have been possible for Gladbach.
With the lead behind them, things became easier for the Stuttgart team, who had a much better quality team, after the break. VfB’s game became more confident and Hoeneß was able to add more from the bench. Chris Führich and Undav, who were rotated out of the starting eleven after the 2-0 defeat in the Europa League at AS Roma, came onto the field and provided even more offensive strength and, above all, the decision.
It was also Führich who took a corner in front of the goal a few minutes after coming on as a substitute, where Scally became the unlucky raven again. The ball bounced off the US professional’s back into the far corner of the Gladbach goal. Borussia was now constantly pushed into their own half by the guests and could hardly pose a threat in front of the VfB goal. On one of the many balls won offensively, Undav finally showed his strength and made it 3-0. A number of Borussia fans then left the stadium and the game was finally over.
