The Swabians act superiorly against Celtic Glasgow, but don’t score. However, reaching the round of 16 is never in danger.
VfB Stuttgart lost the playoff second leg in the Europa League against Celtic Glasgow 0-1 (0-1), but thanks to the cushion from the first leg they are still in the round of the last 16 clubs. Celtic’s Luke McCowan scored the goal of the day in the first minute.
VfB went after the clear 4:1 in the first leg as the big favorite in the encounter, even if the recently injured midfield director Angelo Stiller (bruised knee) initially only sat on the substitutes’ bench.
The game started with a bang: Junior Adamu, on loan to Celtic from SC Freiburg, fed McCowan, who gave VfB keeper Alexander Nübel no chance with his precise finish into the far corner. The Stuttgart team didn’t always seem completely solid in defense as the early stages progressed. On the other hand, the hosts found their offense better. The first scenes belonged to Jamie Leweling, but initially he couldn’t find a taker with his cross pass (11th), then his shot was too central to pose serious problems for goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo (12th).
The Swabians now took more and more control. Badredine Bouanani tested Sinisalo with a long-range shot, Deniz Undav fed Leweling, who was decisively prevented from finishing at the last moment (20th). Although Celtic were two goals short of reaching extra time, the Scots still concentrated on defense and only appeared sporadically in Stuttgart’s half. VfB often acted too imprecisely, and several times the last or penultimate pass was not played cleanly enough, which is why they went into the dressing room with a narrow deficit.
Tiago Tomas misses the equalizer
In the second half, VfB almost got off to a lightning start. Chris Führich, who was substituted at the break, came down the left side and found Bouanani in the center, who was blocked at the last moment (46th). The Swabians were now acting more determinedly, but Celtic also had problems every now and then. In the 55th minute, Chema Tiago served Tomas with a chip ball, but the attacker missed the goal from a promising position.
On the other hand, Daizen Maeda beat Maximilian Mittelstädt, but his central shot was a sure prey for Nübel (61′). VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß reacted to his team’s manageable performance and brought two top performers into the game with Stiller and Ermedin Demirovic.
Goals from Führich and Undav disallowed
And the changes had an immediate effect. Bouanani fired powerfully from 14 meters, but Sinisalo parried (65′). A minute later, Undav finished but his deflected effort went over the goal. Then cheers erupted in the Stuttgart Arena because Führich scored the supposed equalizer. However, the winger had previously been offside (68′). Fifteen minutes before the final whistle, Undav felt the same way. Demirovic, who had just been treated on the sideline, was sent steeply and fed Undav, who scored powerfully from 16 meters, but was also called back for offside after the video referee intervened.
VfB’s pressure continued to increase, attack after attack rolling towards the visitors’ goal. Führich, for example, found his master in keeper Sinisalo in the 87th minute. Celtic, who actually needed two goals to advance, almost couldn’t find their way out of their own half. In the end there were 24 shots on goal in VfB’s statistics, only three from Celtic. In the end it was a narrow victory for the Scots, which didn’t change anything about VfB’s place in the round of 16.
VfB before duel with Portuguese club
The draw for the round of 16 of the Europa League will take place on Friday at 1 p.m. It is already certain that VfB will face a Portuguese club – Sporting Braga or FC Porto. The duels in the round of 16 will be played on March 12th and 19th, with the Swabians having home advantage in the first leg. In the Bundesliga, Stuttgart continues on Sunday with the home game against VfL Wolfsburg (3:30 p.m. in the live ticker and audio stream on sportschau.de).
