For the first time this Bundesliga season, VfB manages a clean sheet—against none other than the double title-winner from Leverkusen. Unlike in Munich, however, the team doesn’t buckle under the opponent’s offensive pressure after the break.
Last season, the matches between the eventual champion and runner-up were widely regarded as the best that German soccer had to offer at the time. Both teams faced off on an equal footing, with VfB generally leading—someone recently calculated they led in all but eight minutes—but after 90 minutes, a winner only emerged in the Cup. Many of these series continued even after the Friday night match, except for the notion that the teams still played on equal terms.
Because, before the break, the players in the Stuttgart jerseys were completely overwhelmed by Leverkusen’s high-pressing attack. Up front, they didn’t manage a single shot toward the goal, and at the back, there was a succession of hair-raising misplaced passes, lost tackles, and desperate sprints back to their own goal line to prevent what seemed like the inevitable: a Leverkusen lead. Ultimately, it was mostly thanks to one man, the brilliantly in-form Alexander Nübel, who once again showed why he’s on Julian Nagelsmann’s radar and in Bayern’s roster plans.
Lessons from Munich
This game quickly brought back memories of the 4–0 loss in Munich in mid-October, when VfB also struggled to gain a foothold and eventually couldn’t hold off the opponent’s offensive firepower. Not so in this match. Even without defensive leader Chabot, the team dug in more and more after halftime, and Chabot’s replacement, Chase, whom I would have subbed out at halftime, grew into the game. In the end, the point may have been somewhat fortunate but was also hard-fought.
During the break, the team and its coach managed to regroup and gradually steal Leverkusen’s thunder. While the first win against Leverkusen since 2018 seemed farther away than in any of their recent matchups, as the game progressed, VfB gained more possession and more control in the opponent’s half. Maybe this was because Leverkusen held back, hoping to lure VfB out of their defensive shell, or perhaps because Leverkusen, after all, isn’t Bayern Munich this season.
Surviving the Loss of Control
In any case, after a string of controlled performances, VfB had a bad day, struggling to reach their performance limits. This happened last season and will likely occur a few times again in this much tougher season. That’s why it’s so important that VfB weathered the storm and left the field unscathed. Just like the necessary wins against Kiel and Kaiserslautern, this can only boost the team’s confidence, even though they’ll need to keep working on finding their footing against aggressive, high-skilled opponents.
Wrapping up this series of games between the international breaks, Bergamo and Frankfurt now come to the Neckarstadion—a tough test for the home record that’s been undefeated for over a year. After that, there will be somewhat smaller challenges in both the Champions League and the league. Then maybe VfB can spark a bit of a storm of their own.
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