Interim coach Nico Willig has breathed new life into VfB Stuttgart with a surprise success in the Bundesliga relegation match. The Swabians fought their first win in eight weeks against Champions League aspirant Borussia Mönchengladbach in the dream debut of the former U19 coach with a 1-0 (0-0) win against Borussia Mönchengladbach. While the significantly improved VfB relegation position consolidated 16th place, the top class has moved further into the distance for disappointing Gladbacher.
In front of 56,730 spectators in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, Anastasios Donis secured the important threesome for the courageously aggressive VfB with his goal (56th). It was the first since the 5:1 against competitor Hannover 96 on March 3.
Willig admitted before the encounter at Sky that his pulse was elevated, but this had also been the case at the U19 before every game. “The grass is green, there are only 22 players, and the ball is just as big,” he said. But the VfB starter team looked very different than it did last time: After the 0:6 in Augsburg, which had cost his predecessor Markus Weinzierl the office, Willig brought five new ones.
Striker Mario Gomez only sat on the bench, but Willig wanted to see “a constant readiness to attack”. Andreas Beck took the first shot on goal after 32 seconds, but the first big chance belonged to the guests: After a missed pass in the build-up, three Gladbachers stormed alone on VfB goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler, who in his 250th Bundesliga game strongly parried against Alassane Plea (4th).
How critical the situation at VfB is was made clear by the lack of support from the Ultras. Instead, they showed a banner saying, “Earn this curve!” It wasn’t until Daniel Didavi (21.)’s supposed 1-0 win over Patrick Herrmann due to a foul of Stuttgart’s Patrick Herrmann (rightly so) that the fans didn’t get any recognition and started their singing – but only temporarily.
