VfB Stuttgartvs
Borussia M'gladbachThere's a version of this game where Stuttgart's 70 percent possession and 15 shots add up to a comfortable home win. That version didn't happen. Instead, Borussia Mönchengladbach — who came into Friday night having lost four straight — walked out of the MHPArena with three points and a result that nobody really saw coming. Our pre-match read had Stuttgart as heavy favorites at 69 percent, and for long stretches it looked exactly right. It just wasn't.
Ermedin Demirovic got Stuttgart going inside five minutes, finishing off a Dzenan Pejcinovic assist to settle the home crowd and make everything feel orderly. For half an hour, it was. Stuttgart moved the ball cleanly — 693 passes on the night, 90 percent accuracy — and Gladbach looked like a team still searching for a reason to believe in themselves.
Then Joe Scally changed it. The American fullback, set up by Zento Uno, pulled Gladbach level in the 38th minute and suddenly the MHPArena had a game on its hands. The final minutes of the half got scratchy: Leo Sauer and Atakan Karazor both picked up yellows for Stuttgart in the 44th and 45th, Florian Neuhaus got one for Gladbach right at the whistle. Six yellow cards across the full ninety — it was that kind of evening.
The Second Half Belonged to Gladbach
Shuto Machino put the visitors ahead six minutes after the restart, converting a Wael Mohya assist to flip the scoreline. Stuttgart's response was to keep the ball — what else could they do — but Gladbach were content to sit and wait. In the 66th minute, Mohya got on the scoresheet himself, heading home a Joe Scally cross to make it 3-1. Cabal, that was the moment the match died as a contest, or should have been.
Stuttgart didn't quit. Demirovic pulled one back in the 83rd minute, heading in a Jamie Leweling cross for his second of the night, and the last few minutes had some genuine tension. But Gladbach held. Two saves from their goalkeeper across the whole match — that's how rarely Stuttgart actually tested them when it counted. Fifteen shots, five on target, two goals. The efficiency gap told the real story.
Zento Uno and Joe Scally both saw yellow in the 53rd and 54th minutes respectively, back-to-back bookings that hinted at how nervy Gladbach's defending was getting as Stuttgart pressed. It didn't matter. They survived.
For Stuttgart, this one will sting. A DLWWL run coming in, the better team for most of the ninety, and nothing to show for it. The question now is whether this was a bad night or the start of something worse — their conversion rate in front of goal looked like a real problem, and teams with that much possession can't afford to leave chances on the table.
For Gladbach, after four straight losses, qué alivio. They'll take the win any way they can get it.
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