Europa League: VfB saves lead to the finish

Despite a lightning-quick setback, VfB Stuttgart made it to the round of 16 of the Europa League. Only around 30 seconds had passed in the second round match against Celtic Glasgow when Luke McCowan scored for the Scots. The 0:1 (0:1) against the Scottish champions Celtic Glasgow was the first home defeat of the European Cup season for Stuttgart. But VfB didn’t have to worry after the 4-1 win in the first leg in Glasgow.

The Stuttgart team lacked consistency on offense for a long time in the second leg on Thursday evening. Two goals in the second half were disallowed due to offside positions. “The most important thing is to get ahead, the rest doesn’t matter,” said offensive player Deniz Undav, but added angrily: “The VAR should actually be there to help. It feels like he makes more wrong decisions than the referees themselves. It’s getting funnier and funnier.” According to video evidence, two VfB goals in the 3-3 draw in Heidenheim on Sunday did not count.

After the two duels with the Scots, VfB will continue their European Cup journey against a Portuguese team on March 12th and 19th. On Friday the draw will decide whether the Swabians meet Sporting Braga or FC Porto, both of whom qualified directly for the best 16 teams. The last time Stuttgart reached a European Cup round of 16 was in the 2012/2013 season. The mandatory Bundesliga program against VfL Wolfsburg awaits on Sunday.

Despite the comfortable situation after the dominant performance at Celtic Park, Sebastian Hoeneß warned against taking the task too lightly. In view of Dortmund’s lost 2-0 lead in the Champions League in Bergamo, he also appealed to approach the game with concentration. It will be important to “act consistently in our stadium from the first minute,” said the coach.

But the plan was gone with the first action. Chema Andrés played a bad pass, Luca Jaquez slipped, Finn Jeltsch couldn’t make an impact in time – the game started with a bang, making it 0-1. Hoeneß watched the false start on the sidelines with a serious expression; without the suspended defense chief Jeff Chabot, his team did not yet seem sorted.

Chris Führich and Deniz Undav were offside when they scored

Things could have been even worse given Scotland’s next chance just a few minutes later. Celtic had changed their starting eleven even more significantly than VfB compared to the first leg; only three professionals started in Stuttgart. So Glasgow was more secure defensively. The spectators saw how the Stuttgart team struggled; they didn’t set enough dangerous accents. Badredine Bouanani’s shot after a quarter of an hour was the best chance in the first half, but it was missed by goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo.

Hoeneß reacted to the half-time deficit and brought on Chris Führich for Jamie Leweling. VfB pushed more and more for the equalizer without really shining. But Tiago Tomás missed his opportunity, as did Bouanani. With the substitution of Ermedin Demirovic and Angelo Stiller after an hour, the pressure increased even more. Führich scored, but the celebration was suddenly stopped (68′), the winger was offside. Deniz Undav’s goal in the 75th minute was also disallowed amid a concert of whistles after video evidence because the assister, Demirovic, was just offside.