VfB Stuttgart won in the Bundesliga on Saturday (March 2nd, 2024) at VfL Wolfsburg – also because Serhou Guirassy has now scored 20 goals in just 18 appearances. The Swabians thus consolidated third place in the table. Wolfsburg has to look down.
The player of the game was once again Serhou Guirassy, who scored two goals in Stuttgart’s 3-2 (1-0) win. First Guirassy scored with a header (14th minute), later he converted a penalty. It was his 18th appearance and he scored his 19th and 20th goals this season – it’s an impressive rate. Josha Vagnoman also scored later (77′).
After 24 games, VfB is third in the table with 50 points and can dream of the Champions League there. The lead over fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund is six points and the gap to Bayern Munich is only four points.
In Wolfsburg they are a long way from that. Goals from Joakim Maehle (50th) and Lukas Nmecha (83rd) were not enough to prevent the eleventh defeat of the season. That’s why VfL remains in 13th place with only 25 points. VfL hasn’t won any of the eight league games this year.
Stuttgart’s Guirassy makes the difference
Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeneß did without Deniz Undav in the starting line-up against Wolfsburg, which was quite a surprise. He didn’t give up Guirassy, which wasn’t surprising. And it paid off.
Stuttgart took the lead when Chris Führich got the ball, turned towards the goal and tied up three opponents. He passed to the left, from where Maximilian Mittelstädt crossed into the penalty area. Guirassy stood there for a brief moment in the air, the Wolfsburg defensive players below him marveling. So Guirassy got the header and he put it into the far corner.
Wolfsburg is running out of ideas
At half-time VfB were ahead thanks to Guirassy’s goal, but the lead could have been higher. Once, in the 37th minute, Führich shot from a long distance and missed the goal by centimeters.
And coach Niko Kovac’s Wolfsburg team? Without their goal scorer Jonas Wind (bench), they found it difficult to provide impetus in the build-up to the game. They rarely had opportunities to score. Defender Maehle had the best in the 40th minute when he benefited from a pass that was too short from Stuttgart’s Waldemar Anton. Maehle dribbled around goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, but then didn’t get the ball on goal from a tight angle.
Wolfsburg’s Maehle scores and concedes a penalty
Immediately after the restart, Wolfsburg showed that they can do better. First, Tiago Tomas, who had just been substituted, crossed flatly into the penalty area, where Stuttgart’s defense chief Anton almost scored into his own goal (46th). Then Kevin Paredes and Lovro Majer Maehle staged. The Dane was already in the penalty area when he got the ball. With the first contact, Maehle finished in the top right corner.
Shortly afterwards, Maehle was involved in another goal, but this time he wasn’t the scorer and he didn’t celebrate either. When Stuttgart’s Enzo Millot sprinted down his right into the Wolfsburg penalty area, Maehle was close to him, but he wasn’t in a good position. So he pulled on the Stuttgart player’s jersey – and he fell. Referee Benjamin Brand awarded a penalty. Guirassy stepped up and scored, even when goalkeeper Koen Casteels had his fingertips on it.
Stuttgart’s Vagnoman scores two goals, but only one counts
Less than two minutes later, the ball was back in the Lower Saxony goal: Anton Vagnoman had sent in a nice pass. But Vagnoman had probably started a fraction of a second too early. When he poked the ball over the line past Casteels, he was just offside.
Referee Brand had initially awarded the goal, but reversed this decision after the VAR intervened (56th). A good twenty minutes later, Vagnoman celebrated again, and this time his goal also counted. The assist came from Jamie Leweling, then Vagnoman hit a hook and hit the bottom left corner.
Wolfsburg’s joker Nmecha ensures excitement
However, the game was not decided even after Stuttgart’s third. Just six minutes later another goal was scored by Wolfsburg’s Lukas Nmecha, who had come on as a substitute less than 120 seconds earlier. The Wolfsburg team then took a risk and now pushed for an equalizer. But it didn’t fall.
Next Sunday (March 10, 2024) Wolfsburg will face leaders Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the 25th matchday of the Bundesliga. Stuttgart is already challenged in the home game against 1. FC Union Berlin on Friday evening (March 8th, 2024).