Stuttgart (dpa) – With a goal festival and the first Champions League home win in almost exactly 15 years, VfB Stuttgart has impressively returned to the race for the playoffs. The Swabian Bundesliga football team defeated the Swiss champions Young Boys Bern 5:1 (1:1) and significantly increased their chances of progressing before the remaining two match days of the league phase. Bern remains without a point in the current competition.
Three German national players scored for VfB, who first had to cope with an early setback in front of 60,000 spectators and then played themselves into a frenzy: Angelo Stiller (25th minute), Chris Führich (61st) and Josha Vagnoman (66th). 24th birthday. Enzo Millot (53rd) and Yannick Keitel (76th) were also successful for Stuttgart. Lukasz Lakomy initially gave the guests the lead (6th).
Emotions after death in the family of Bern professional
VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß had asked his team for a reaction to the 5-1 defeat at Red Star Belgrade two weeks ago – and he got it. From the Swabians' point of view, the evening started very poorly. Less than six minutes had been played when Lakomy scored with a shot from around 20 meters to give Bern the lead. Stuttgart's national goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, who had already made a mistake in the league game against Union Berlin (3:2) last Friday, didn't really look good.
Lakomy's celebration was emotional: the midfielder held up a jersey from his teammate Meschack Elia, the rest of the team gathered next to and behind him. The Young Boys announced before the game that a son of the Congolese striker died unexpectedly after a short illness and that Elia had then left before the game. There was a minute's silence before kick-off and both teams played with mourning ribbons.
VfB dominant, but initially imprecise
The Stuttgart team quickly took control after going behind and earned the equalizer through Stiller after a fine one-two with his national team colleague Vagnoman. In the first half, despite all their dominance, the hosts made too many inaccuracies. A much too imprecise pass from Atakan Karazor to Chris Führich in a very promising position was an example of this (36th).
The Stuttgart team, whose captain Karazor stayed in the dressing room during the break, also clearly dominated the game in the second half. The difference from the first half: They now acted much more precisely and decisively.
Confusion over Millot's goal to make it 2-1
However, the 2-1 result was strange. After Rieder ran into the penalty area on the right side, the linesman raised the flag. The Bernese stopped playing and Millot scored with a low shot. A detailed video check showed that the ball had obviously not been out of bounds after all – the goal counted.
As a result, the guests literally fell apart. Führich scored with a remarkable shot into the right corner, Vagnoman after a cross from Millot. Keitel, who came on for Karazor, increased the score to 5-1 with a long-range shot. It was Stuttgart's first home win in the premier class since the 3-1 win against Unirea Urziceni on December 9, 2009 – and what a win.
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