Match in brief:
VfB dominated proceedings from the get-go against the Berlin-based outfit, producing a focused performance over the 90 minutes and deservedly winning by six clear goals.
Goals:
26th minute: Hamadi Al Ghaddioui heads VfB into the lead from Borna Sosa’s delivery.
45th minute +1: Roberto Massimo’s looping cross into the penalty area is met at the far post by Sosa, who volleys home VfB’s second.
52nd minute: Konstantinos Mavropanos rises highest from Philipp Klement’s corner into the six-yard box, thumping an unstoppable header into the net to make it 3-0.
68th minute: Mateo Klimowicz dispossesses Philip Schulz before adding further gloss to the scoreline.
82nd minute: VfB increase their lead with another header, 17-year-old Mo Sankoh netting his first competitive goal for the first team.
88th minute: Darko Churlinov completes the scoring to hand VfB a comfortable victory over the Berlin club.
Post-match reaction:
Pellegrino Matarazzo: “The game wasn’t as easy as the result suggests. It took a little while for us to get into it and find our rhythm, but I’m still very happy with the performance. I think we scored at the right time. You could tell our attacking play is working well and that we’re on the right track. We’ll put this game behind us pretty quickly now and focus on our game against Fürth. Berlin and Fürth are two completely different opponents, so they’ll be two completely different games.”
Line-up:
Fabian Bredlow – Konstantinos Mavropanos (66' Pascal Stenzel), Hiroki Ito, Marc Oliver Kempf – Roberto Massimo (66' Darko Churlinov), Atakan Karazor, Philipp Klement (66' Daniel Didavi), Borna Sosa (C) – Philipp Förster, Hamadi Al Ghaddioui (73' Erik Thommy), Mateo Klimowicz (73' Mo Sankoh).