VfB Stuttgart has had an absolutely brilliant 2024 calendar year. After the Swabians had to be relegated last year, they finished the 2023/24 season in an excellent second place and beat Bayern, Dortmund and Leipzig in the second half of the season. Sebastian Hoeneß has transformed VfB into a top team within a few months, which has also delivered overall in the first half of the current season despite a few problems.
90min takes a look at Stuttgart's best performances in the 2024 calendar year:
VfB Stuttgart was one of the few teams that were able to stand up to Bayer 04 Leverkusen several times in the 2024 calendar year. Ultimately, the Swabians always missed out on a victory. It was particularly close on April 27, 2024, when Stuttgart were on the verge of inflicting their first defeat of the season on the Werkself. Then, as is typical for Leverkusen, Robert Andrich scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time to make it 2-2. The Swabians had previously played an excellent game and were even leading 2-0 thanks to goals from Chris Führich and Deniz Undav.
BVB was something like Stuttgart's favorite opponent in 2024. The 1-0 win in Dortmund on April 6th was actually rather unspectacular. Nevertheless, one cannot overestimate how much coolness it takes to survive in front of the Yellow Wall in a direct duel for a Champions League place. Goal scorer Serhou Guirassy and keeper Alexander Nübel made the difference.
When VfB took part in the Champions League for the last time, the games felt like they could still be seen on black and white television. The return of the Stuttgart team to the big European stage was all the more remarkable. The Swabians got off to an excellent start in the legendary Bernabeu, but were not rewarded for the extremely strong opening half hour. Shortly after the break, Kylian Mbappé gave Los Blancos the lead, but Deniz Undav equalized midway through the second half. The Stuttgart team definitely deserved a point, but Antonio Rüdiger and Endrick scored in the final phase and dashed their hopes. Nevertheless, the performance was strong!
As a strong team that is going well, there is hardly anything more unpleasant than having to play against Frankfurt. However, VfB were quickly able to pull the plug on Eintracht and took the lead with two early goals from Serhou Guirassy and Deniz Undav. Jamie Leweling made it 3-0 before the break and made things clear. In the second half, VfB was able to calmly manage the result and take the three points.
The 4-0 home win against Borussia Mönchengladbach was the culmination of a fantastic 2023/24 season. The Swabians clearly dominated and gave the foals no chance. A brace from Guirassy and goals from Jeong and Mvumpa ensured a clear 4-0 win. The victory was ultimately enough to overtake Bayern and secure the runner-up spot.
There has been a lot of shadows for VfB in the Champions League league phase so far, but the team was able to come back impressively with a furious 5-1 win against the Young Boys. The Swabians fell behind early on, but didn't let that bother them. Angelo Stiller equalized before VfB got really hot in the second half. Although the Young Boys were definitely not a really strong opponent, it's not every day that you win so clearly in the Champions League.
Stuttgart's biggest international coup in 2024 was certainly the away win at Juventus Turin. In a way, the 1-0 win also provides some consolation for the poor performances against Prague and Belgrade. VfB were the overwhelmingly superior team in Turin and could have made things clear early on. However, a goal was disallowed for offside before Enzo Millot also missed a penalty. Despite a goal shot record of 22:7 and an expected goals record of 2.52:0.25, it took until injury time before El Bilal Touré scored the redeeming 1-0.
In the first half of the season, VfB suffered a terrible defeat in Leipzig, which apparently spurred the team on enormously. While many were expecting a slump in the second half of the season, Stuttgart quickly showed that it wouldn't happen. After two defeats at the beginning of the year, VfB really turned up the heat against Leipzig and won the game 5-2. The man of the day was attacker Deniz Undav, who scored three goals. Leipzig only had four shots in the entire game and were lucky with their own two goals.
Despite Stuttgart's brilliant season, it looked for a long time as if they would only finish third behind Leverkusen and Bayern. However, the Swabians fought bravely and scored a spectacular coup with a 3-1 win against Munich on matchday 32. FCB were certainly focused on the Champions League these days, but they first have to win 3-1 against Munich. The victory was absolutely deserved given 24:10 shooting and 61 percent ball possession. Very few teams record such values against Bayern – even if they are in a bad mood.
As already mentioned, BVB has become something of the Swabians' favorite opponent. It became particularly clear between the two teams on September 22nd, when Stuttgart won 5-1. In a way, it was significant that BVB's only goalscorer was ex-Stuttgart Serhou Guirassy. On the VfB side, it was Deniz Undav who scored a brace. The expected goals ratio of 3.39:0.66 also spoke for itself.
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