With a Bebou hit & own goal
Even with more than 10,000 fans traveling with them, FC Schalke 04 suffered another setback at TSG Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga relegation battle. Like TSG, VfB Stuttgart scored points in the bottom of the table against a direct competitor, and Borussia Mönchengladbach was able to win again for the first time since February.
Schalke lost the last game of the 27th matchday on Sunday at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 0:2 (0:1). The Royal Blues slipped back down to last place in the table. The Gelsenkirchen team fell behind in front of 30,150 spectators in the Sinsheimer Stadion through an own goal by Alex Kral (22nd minute). Ihlas Bebou increased the lead to 2-0 (70′) with a penalty kick and at the second attempt.
With the third win in a row, the Kraichgauer in 14th place distanced their competitor Schalke to seven points and gained more breathing room in the fight for remaining in the class. On the other hand, it was the second defeat in a row for the Royal Blues and the first on a foreign pitch in the second half of the season after the club had previously remained unbeaten in eight games and had high hopes again.
Stuttgart collects big points in the relegation battle – Vagnoman premiere
Sebastian Hoeneß celebrated an extremely important victory in the relegation battle on his Bundesliga debut as coach of VfB Stuttgart. The Swabians deservedly won 3-2 (1-0) at VfL Bochum on Sunday in front of 26,000 spectators. Another premiere was recorded by Stuttgart’s Josha Vagnoman with his first goal for VfB, which is also his first Bundesliga goal.
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As a result, the Stuttgart team left the last place in the table and drew their competitor Bochum deeper into the tight race to stay up in the Bundesliga. VfB is three points behind the Revier-Klub.
Four days after reaching the semifinals of the DFB Cup, where Stuttgart meets Eintracht Frankfurt at home, Hiroki Ito (14th minute), Serhou Guirassy (60th) and new international Vagnoman (63rd) scored the goals for the guests from the south. After 23 league away games in a row without a win, VfB won again on a foreign pitch. Kevin Stöger scored from the penalty spot for Bochum (58′) before Philipp Hofmann (85′) caused tension again. But it wasn’t enough to win a point.
Thanks to Ngoumou and Thuram: Gladbach’s dry spell ended
After five games without a win, Borussia Mönchengladbach has stopped the negative run in the Bundesliga. The team coached by Daniel Farke defeated VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 (1-0) on Sunday, but is still in tenth place with 35 points – far away from the international starting places, which are now undefeated for the previous five games in Wolfsburg (39 points) are still a little further away.
In front of 51,127 spectators in Borussia Park, Nathan Ngoumou (34th minute) and Marcus Thuram (63rd) scored the goals for the hosts. For the first time since the 3-2 win against FC Bayern Munich, the team was able to celebrate three points again.
The guests, who couldn’t win against Gladbach in the league for three years, started the game well and created their first chances early on. Coach Niko Kovac had to rebuild his entire right side because of the suspensions of Ridle Baku and Patrick Wimmer and brought in Kilian Fischer on the right back and Felix Nmecha on the offensive right side.
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Borussia was lucky after goalkeeper Jonas Omlin was able to parry a header from Omar Marmoush in the fifth minute and Mattias Svanberg’s Wolfsburg goal (10′) was disallowed for offside. Christoph Kramer had previously initiated the Lower Saxony counterattack with a bad pass.
In addition to the suspended Manu Koné, for whom Florian Neuhaus moved into defensive midfield, Gladbach initially also had to do without Jonas Hofmann. Gladbach’s strongest offensive player had been absent all week for personal reasons and only came on in the closing stages. His substitute Nathan Ngoumou initially found it difficult to find his way on the right-hand side because the game of the Lower Rhine team was characterized by many mistakes and little creativity.
But after a weak pass from VfL keeper Koen Casteels, Marcus Thuram was there. He served Ngoumou – and he hit the far corner with his left to make it surprisingly 1-0. Up to this point, the guests were clearly the better team. It was the first Bundesliga goal for the 23-year-old Frenchman.
Even with the opening goal in the back, Gladbach’s game didn’t get much better, but gained security. Wolfsburg still had good chances. The strong Svanberg failed to Omlin (47th), who again showed a good performance in the Borussia goal.
The decision in favor of Gladbach came after just over an hour: Alassane Plea’s header after a cross from Ngoumou was used by Thuram, who scored the 2-0 and his 13th goal of the season from close range.
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