Thoroughly deserved away win

Match summary

Sebastian Hoeneß’s side dominated possession and territory from the outset against their opponents, who entered the game with a defensive mindset. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the first opportunity of the contest fell VfB’s way as Jamie Leweling’s 16^th-minute effort from a tight angle was saved by Jari de Busser.  

Leweling at the double

The Go Ahead Eagles goalkeeper was beaten four minutes later. though. The home side gave away possession, allowing Leweling to collect Deniz Undav’s clever pass and give VfB a richly deserved lead. The home side upped the ante after falling behind, but they were caught out on the counter-attack in the 35^th minute when Angelo Stiller played a long ball to Leweling, who sent a low shot into the bottom corner from 16 metres to give Stuttgart a 2-0 half-time lead.

El Khannouss and Bouanani on target

The Dutch side adopted a far more attacking approach in the second half, but VfB gave little away defensively and made it 3-0 shortly before the hour mark (59’). Undav’s chested pass fell to Bilal El Khannouss inside the area, and the Moroccan all but ended the game as a contest with a drive into the bottom right corner.

The visitors’ lead was never under threat from that moment on, and there was still time for Badredine Bouanani to add further gloss to the scoreline in second-half stoppage time, when he fired home a composed finish from Lorenz Assignon’s pass as VfB climbed from 20^th to 12^th in the standings.

Goals

20^th minute: The Dutch side lose the ball in the build-up and VfB take full advantage. Maximilian Mittelstädt immediately picks out Undav, whose lay-off is collected and fired into the right corner by Leweling from seven metres out.

35th minute: Stiller’s long ball finds Leweling, who finishes off the counter-attack with an unstoppable low shot from 16 metres into the bottom left corner.

59^th minute: Leweling’s cross is flicked on by Undav right into the path of El Khannouss, who finds the bottom corner from eight metres.

90^th minute +3: Bouanani sweeps Assignon’s pass into the bottom left corner from inside the penalty area to put the seal on a resounding victory.