Konstantinos Mavropanos and Jonas Hofmann exchange wondergoals as Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfB Stuttgart share the spoils
Konstantinos Mavropanos and Jonas Hofmann exchanged wondergoals as Gladbach and VfB Stuttgart shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Borussia-Park.
Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-1 VfB Stuttgart
Goals: 0-1 Mavropanos (assist: Marmoush) 15', 1-1 Hofmann 42'
The Foals were quick out of the traps, with four efforts on goal inside the first ten minutes testament of their dominance. Kouadio Kone went the closest when he tried to place his shot into the far corner, but missed by inches. Against the run of play, Stuttgart then snatched the lead with Mavropanos finding the bottom left-hand corner from fully 30 yards out. Tanguy Coulibaly missed an arguably easier chance to double Stuttgart's lead when he robbed Matthias Ginter of possession and had only Sommer to beat, but he chipped the ball over the Swiss goalkeeper and the crossbar. Gladbach continued to pile on the pressure, though, and this eventually told when Hofmann teed himself up from Mavropanos' clearance on the edge of the area to volley past Fabian Bredlow with a sumptuous strike.
The hosts continued to ask all the questions in the second half with Stuttgart holding firm defensively and showing their back line are not only good for scoring goals this season. Gladbach's frustration could be gauged by the number of shots on goal from distance, with Kone once again going closest to endangering Bredlow from outside the penalty area. The urgency continued to grow in Gladbach's game with substitute Alassane Plea taking aim from the edge of the penalty area heading into the final 15 minutes, and both Hofmann and Breel Embolo seeing further efforts blocked by a wall of red. Gladbach set a new record for the season of 31 shots, yet the result did not change as they had to settle for just a point with Stuttgart's defenders once again shining at both ends of the field.
Match stats
- Scally has won more challenges than any of his teammates (80) so far this season.
- Gladbach fell behind at home for the first time this season, with Stuttgart leading on the road for the first time.
- Mavropanos' third goal of the season took him level with fellow defender Marc-Oliver Kempf as Stuttgart's joint top-scorers.
- No team have scored more goals through defenders than Stuttgart this season thanks to Kempf and Mavropanos.
- Pellegrino Matarazzo oversaw his 60th match as Stuttgart coach (W24, D13, L22).
- Gladbach had a total of 31 shots on goal, beating the record for the most in a single game this season which was held by Stuttgart from Matchday 1.
- The last time the Foals had so many shots in a single game was way back in 2010.
Watch: Scally: "Anything can happen in soccer"
Line-ups
Gladbach: Sommer - Ginter, Elvedi, Beyer - Scally (Bennetts 81'), Zakaria, Kone (Neuhaus 86'), Netz (Herrmann 66') - Hofmann, Stindl (c) (Plea 66') - Embolo
Unused subs: Sippel, Jantschke, Wolf, Benes, Müsel
Out: Bensebaini (foot), Doucoure (Achilles tendon), Kramer (thigh), Lainer (ankle), Thuram (knee)
Coach: Adi Hütter
Stuttgart: Bredlow - Mavropanos, Ito, Kempf - Coulibaly (Förster74'), Karazor (Didavi 89'), Endo (c), Sosa - Führich, Nartey - Marmoush (Faghir 74')
Unused subs: Schock, Stenzel, Mola, Klimowicz, Ahamada, Al-Ghaddioui
Out: Anton (not included), Cisse (foot), Egloff (foot), Kalajdzic (shoulder), Mangala (not included), Massimo (not included), Millot (knee), Müller (not included), Silas (knee), Thommy (not included)
Coach: Pellegrino Matarazzo
Watch: Mavropanos: "Good situation to take a shot"
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