Just before the end of the season, VfB also surpasses the 70-point mark and will play for the runner-up title next weekend. It’s a pity it’s almost over.
When was the last time we had nothing at all to play for on the final matchday in recent years because the gaps above and below were so big that even with three points in the last game, they couldn’t be bridged? Even in 2021, when we ended up in a relaxed ninth place, we could have qualified for Europe with a win against Bielefeld if Union and Gladbach had lost. It’s been almost exactly 10 years since we “celebrated” survival despite losing to Wolfsburg and could afford a defeat in Munich on the final matchday. And this year, there’s still something at stake: the decision whether VfB will finish third or runner-up.
And as good as that sounds, it felt the same way on Friday evening in the away section in Augsburg. Of course, VfB had a bit more trouble implementing the next away win — the tenth of the season! — than in the first leg because the Augsburg players were not willing to let themselves be “hergespielt” again, as Ermedin Demirovic put it, like in December. And yet, at some point, Serhou Guirassy struck with inevitability after a dream pass from Enzo Millot, a quality possessed by only a few teams in this league. You almost get used to VfB finding some way to succeed this season — and with the season almost over, the away game in Augsburg was the last one for the next few months.
A Little Wistfulness
Before the final curtain falls against Mönchengladbach on Saturday, one can almost become a little melancholic. Or you just enjoy — like I do — the last 90 minutes times two of these phenomenal ten months. Even though it’s still about second place, a bit of money, and the prospect of playing against Leverkusen on Cup weekend and sometime during the week against an amateur club: I haven’t watched football as relaxed as at the game in Augsburg in a long time. The atmosphere in the away section was splendid, VfB kept the ball moving, and I enjoyed the cold drink served in Augsburg, which apparently Deniz Undav, see above, didn’t seem to like much. This scene also illustrates the wave VfB is riding into the summer break. It’s running and running and running, we’re setting one record after another, and Undav is making it hard for us not to completely fall for him with his declaration of love, despite being a loan player.
😍 #VfB pic.twitter.com/JwR4vFsnLa
— Lennart Sauerwald (@l_sauerwald) May 11, 2024
Regardless of how the final table looks: We have a really nice end to the season ahead of us. I know the team will give everything once again to climb up the table one last time; everything else is not in our hands. One last time, we can indulge ourselves in this attractive football at the Neckarstadion, of which we don’t know if it and the composition of the team will last beyond the season. I have great confidence in Sebastian Hoeneß and Fabian Wohlgemuth that they will continue to act wisely in the coming weeks and months, but we will probably not experience a season like this again.
One Last Time
First, we have three long months ahead of us, during which no one knows what the squad will look like until the transfer window closes on September 1st. Not to mention that despite ongoing expressions of dissatisfaction in every game, the club’s committees continue to remain silent, the chairman of the supervisory board still does not belong to the registered association, and we still don’t know who has promised and signed what or when. It will be interesting to see who emerges from which hole by July 28th and suddenly reappears. Unlike in the squad, a personnel fresh start is urgently needed here — we should just be careful who comes in through the revolving door that others have just left the other way.
But one thing at a time. For now, I just want to, for the last time before summer, see this great team celebrate the great football of their great coach in a full Neckarstadion, beaming with joy like the sun, with a medley of “Stuttgart kommt”, the Champions League anthem, and:
AFTER ALL THE SH*T, IT’S TIME TO TRAVEL, STUTTGART INTERNATIONAL!
Picture: © Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images