With an abundance of opportunities, VfB Stuttgart fought for three points against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday (November 11th, 2023). For BVB it was the second defeat in the Bundesliga in a row, and for Stuttgart a mini-negative series ended. The Swabians won 2:1 (1:1). After his injury break, Serhou Guirassy was substituted on by coach Sebastian Hoeneß in the 66th minute and scored the winning goal.
With the first shot on the Stuttgart goal, BVB took the lead through Niclas Füllkrug (36th), after the hosts had left what felt like two dozen top-class scoring opportunities unused. In addition, Chris Führich weakly pushed a penalty kick into the arms of BVB keeper Gregor Kobel (11th). It was Dortmund’s first saved penalty since October 2013: Back then, Kevin-Prince Boateng was defeated by Roman Weidenfeller in a Schalke jersey.
Before the break, Stuttgart managed to score a well-deserved equalizer through Deniz Undav (42′). After Kobel also caused the second penalty, Guirassy, who had since been substituted, scored his 15th goal of the season (83′). VfB consolidated third place in the table, Dortmund, in fourth place, is already at least eight points behind the top of the table.
Dortmund’s Kobel, then Kobel, and then Kobel again
Kobel seemed to put the guests from Westphalia on the losing road early on: When Stuttgart, in its strong opening phase, combined through Waldemar Anton and Deniz Undav into Dortmund’s penalty area, the goalkeeper fell out of his box and was a fraction of a second too late against Undav . The penalty whistle that followed went unchallenged. But Chris Führich took the penalty rather discouraged, Kobel sensed the corner and parried the penalty.
But the home team did not let themselves be dissuaded from their concept and continued to push the guests deep into their defense. Opportunities for the Swabians arose almost every minute: Undav, Jamie Leweling, Führich and Enzo Millot created a large, colorful bouquet of top-class scoring opportunities. But the Stuttgart team either failed because of Kobel or their own inability.
BVB: One shot, one goal
When Stuttgart’s superiority became almost unbearable in the first half, the first goal was scored – for Dortmund. Nico Schlotterbeck passed to Julian Ryerson, who was looking for and finding goal getter Füllkrug. The national striker needed exactly one chance to score – perfect conversion of his chances.
And again VfB didn’t give up. Leweling stood out for receiving and passing the ball on a long pass, Undav kept his nerve in front of Kobel, who had no chance this time.
Terzic comes on with Reus and Malen Quality
At the start of the second half, Dortmund coach Edin Terzic brought on Marco Reus and Donyell Malen. Although VfB’s goal rate continued to be catastrophic, Dortmund now gained more shares of the game. But the Borussia team in Stuttgart failed to demonstrate their offensive qualities throughout the game.
Instead, Stuttgart came back – now Josha Vagnoman also joined the list of opportunity wasters. But then Kobel moved back into the center of events. This time it was substitute Silas who was knocked off his feet by the keeper in the penalty area – another penalty. This time, the prudent referee Tobias Stieler refrained from warning the goalkeeper, who had seen yellow for his first foul.
But this time Guirassy stepped up and converted after three missed penalties for VfB Stuttgart to win. The bottom line is that Dortmund presented themselves really weakly and thanks to Kobel they were lucky not to have lost by a huge margin.
BVB welcomes Gladbach, VfB at Eintracht
Dortmund will face Borussia Mönchengladbach at home on matchday 12 (Saturday, November 25th, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.). Stuttgart is challenged in the top game against Eintracht Frankfurt (6.30 p.m.).