Tough test against Darmstadt

Before VfB head off to their training camp in Kitzbühel on Saturday, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s men tested their form against Darmstadt 98 on Wednesday. The Hessians, who begin their Bundesliga 2 campaign a week on Saturday, took an early lead through Mathias Honsak (8’), but VfB managed to find an equaliser shortly before the half-time whistle courtesy of Tanguy Coulibaly (43’).

There was little goalmouth action in the second half, which was partly down to the many substitutions that VfB made, meaning the scoreline stayed at 1-1.

Pellegrino Matarazzo: “We took a little while to get used to the physicality, and there was tiredness on top of that. Then at the end of the first half we regained control of the game and equalised with a nice goal. We made wholesale changes for the second half, but we struggled to create clear goalscoring opportunities against opponents who defended well and compactly.”

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VfB must make do without midfielder Orel Mangala for now. “Orel unfortunately suffered another muscle injury and will be out for several weeks,” said sporting director Sven Mislintat before the match.