Thank you, Mario!

There was special moment at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in the 82nd minute of VfB’s match at home to SV Darmstadt 98. Mario Gomez left the pitch, for the final time in what has been an incredibly successful career in a Stuttgart shirt. The VfB substitutes’ bench all stood and applauded the attacker in the number 27 jersey, then immediately after the final whistle, they gave him another send-off out on the pitch. After the match, the striker officially called time on his career, bidding farewell both to VfB and to professional football, at least as a player. “After the kind of career that I could barely even have imagined, it was always my wish to give something back to VfB and to finish it off here. I am unbelievably grateful to VfB and it’s lovely that I got to sign off with an incredible success like this,” the 35-year-old said.

Gomez made a total of 328 appearances in the Bundesliga, more than half of them (168) with Stuttgart in two stints, the first finishing when he was transferred in 2009 and the second starting on his return in December 2017. As well as scoring a hatful of goals, he also got to lift the Bundesliga trophy with the club in 2007.