VfB stands behind Nübel
©IMAGO
Nick Woltemade held back after his gala appearance. Captain Atakan Karazor emerged from the line of celebrating Stuttgart as the winner and first goal scorer. Woltemade needed a little push to step into the spotlight before the VfB curve. The 3-2 win against 1. FC Union Berlin was largely thanks to him. The Joker secured the longed-for victory, which, after the ups and downs, should be the initial spark for the year-end spurt and the important Champions League game against Bern on Wednesday.
Woltemade turned a 0:2 into a 2:2 with strong goals. It was Karazor who made the splendid comeback with his first goal in the Bundesliga an even better story from Stuttgart’s perspective. After 117 games without a goal, the time had finally come and Karazor handed over the baton in the list of goalless Bundesliga players to Hoffenheim’s Christopher Lenz (30), who, with 98 games, has now been the longest wait for a personal sense of success among active professionals.
It was a “sick feeling,” said the beaming Karazor. He didn’t even know what to do. “I could have cheered 15 times at once.” But he preferred not to. “Then I probably would have ended up on some memes. In the end I decided to just run to my boys.” He had been teasing him for a long time and even after his goal drought ended. Especially from the injured Deniz Undav, who Woltemade and he let jump in. “Of course he would have done another great thing, I don’t know what. But for me today it was just a pass into the corner,” said Karazor with a smile.
Karazor only made this decisive pass into the corner in the 69th minute with the friendly help of Frederik Rönnow. The Union goalkeeper made a bad pass that Karazor intercepted. “You don’t want to know what you’re thinking at this moment,” reported the 28-year-old VfB leader – and then drew attention to Woltemade.
Double goalscorer Woltemade delights VfB Stuttgart
“Two meters long and probably the best technique someone that size can have,” praised Karazor. “He gave us brutal strength.” Woltemade scored goals two and three in his eighth Bundesliga game for VfB. And that means he already has a better return than with Bremen (41 games/two goals), from whom he moved to Stuttgart for a free transfer in the summer.
At the runner-up, the Schlaks had to line up behind the million-dollar transfers Undav (torn hamstring) and Ermedin Demirovic as well as El Bilal Touré (broken metatarsal), who was on loan. The 22-year-old is not registered in the Champions League due to the regulations. Against Union, Woltemade came out of the shadows and thrilled the fans. However, the mood was dampened by a medical emergency in the visitors’ block in the final phase.
Woltemade had previously come at half-time and impressively fulfilled the task of bringing “energy” into the game. After being involved in the 0-2, he scored twice within eight minutes (51st/59th). “Clear” and “clever” and in “absolute center forward style,” as sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth praised. It was his best half for VfB. Woltemade himself thought it was “crazy”. On the streets near the stadium, some fans were still raving about Woltemade as the “football god” around two hours after the final whistle.
So far, Woltemade has been a top scorer in the DFB Cup with a goal in all three games, including reaching the quarter-finals on Tuesday in Regensburg (3-0). “He showed us, especially today, that he can be very, very important for us. And yet, of course, Nick himself has to remain patient,” Karazor warned against expectations being too high.
VfB Stuttgart stands behind goalkeeper Nübel
The strong Woltemade performance pushed not only the unsightly and discouraged first half into the background, but also Alexander Nübel’s mistake in the 0-1 by Danilho Doekhi (37th). He also couldn’t prevent Robert Skov from making it 2-0 shortly after the break, whose cross counted as a goal (48′).
“The boy has been keeping us clueless for weeks – and then you’re supposed to be mad at him or what? “That doesn’t fit into this team,” Karazor stood behind the goalkeeper. He hasn’t met a player yet who couldn’t use a little help at a time like this. That’s why he cheered him up immediately after the goal and during the break, said the VfB captain.
Sports director Wohlgemuth also defended Nübel. “Mistakes happen, no problem at all. That’s why there are the other ten, who then iron out some of the mistakes at the front,” said the 45-year-old. Of course, the 0-1 result was a goal conceded from “a very, very short distance”. “And then you can keep the ball.”
Karazor relies on “ruck” at VfB Stuttgart
In the Bundesliga, VfB has now put itself in the attractive starting position it had hoped for. The Swabians would like to say goodbye to the short Christmas break successfully in Heidenheim and against FC St. Pauli. “I hope that the team gets a boost after all these difficult weeks,” said Karazor. First of all, it counts on Wednesday in the premier class against BSC Young Boys – without Woltemade.