The first attack is direct: Returnee Hofmann puts Gladbach on the road to success early on. In the Friday evening game of the Bundesliga, coach Farke’s team ended their mini-crisis, while VfB Stuttgart continued an unpleasant series.
Led by returnee Jonas Hofmann, Borussia Mönchengladbach has ended its mini-crisis. The last injured World Cup candidate came back impressively with a lightning goal in the 3-1 (2-1) win against VfB Stuttgart, after three defeats in a row Gladbach jumped to seventh place for one night. VfB, on the other hand, is threatened with returning to the Bundesliga relegation zone by Sunday.
National player Hofmann (4th), top scorer Marcus Thuram (25th) and Patrick Herrmann (90th 4), who only came on in added time, scored for the fifth win in Borussia’s seventh home game. VfB, on the other hand, are still waiting for their first away win in the 2022 calendar year, even under interim coach Michael Wimmer, despite Tiago Tomas’ goal (35’).
“We didn’t get into the game well again, that has to stop slowly,” said Stuttgart’s Waldemar Anton on DAZN. In fact, only Gladbach had immediately found the forward gear, the first attack was successful: After a cross from Alassane Plea, Hofmann scored the fastest Gladbach goal of the season so far. Borussia had recently lost twice without the injured Hofmann. Now the 30-year-old immediately returned to the starting XI and recommended himself for a place in the DFB team less than three weeks before the German national team’s first World Cup game. Hofmann was also involved in Plea’s following big chance (15th).
VfB didn’t hide at all and sent a sign of life through Tomas, whose high ball fell on the crossbar (11′). However, the more active team was Borussia, who promptly followed suit. After an outstanding move through Ramy Bensebaini and Plea, the ball landed at Thuram, who scored his ninth goal of the season and took the lead in scoring. Because Tomas shortened before the break after a nice individual action, the game remained exciting. Gladbach’s substitute goalkeeper Tobias Sippel, who had recently been unlucky several times, had no chance against the low shot placed.
VfB now got the upper hand and even pushed for an equalizer until the break. Even after the change of sides, the Farke team initially invested more in the game, but Stuttgart remained extremely dangerous with their counterattacks. Chris Führich (53rd) had the chance to equalize from a distance in what was now an intense and open game. Because Borussia passed the balls too quickly, VfB even got the upper hand in midfield for long stretches. A header from Wataru Endo (76′) narrowly missed the goal, a great chance from Serhou Guirassy (83′) thwarted Sippel – but the final act was reserved for Herrmann.
