Fener beat Stuttgart in a game of "penalties" | OneFootball

A lackluster display in Istanbul ended with a defeat for Stuttgart against Fenerbahçe. In pure contrast to their Bundesliga form, Sebastian Hoeneß’s side now lost back-to-back games in Europe.

Despite the electric atmosphere inside Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, Stuttgart barely showed nerves in possession in the early exchanges. However, the hosts still managed to fashion the first five shots on target through five players inside the first 20 minutes – Kerem Aktürkoğlu, Dorgeles Nene, İsmail Yüksek, Youssef En-Nesyri, and Nélson Semedo.

That followed up with Bilal El Khannouss’ dangerous play on Edson Álvarez, but the attacking midfielder avoided a straight red card. The Moroccan international then attempted Stuttgart’s first shot on target to test Ederson from range.

A minute later, the Brazilian goalkeeper was nearly caught by Luca Jaquez’s header. The game started to open up in both ends with Marco Asensio becoming the sixth Fenerbahçe player to test Alexander Nübel before the half-hour mark. There were 11 attempts in total from the two teams in the first 30 minutes.

Domenico Tedesco’s side got the lucky break after that when Angelo Stiller opted for a foul to stop Milan Škriniar from getting to Aktürkoğlu’s corner-kick: Penalty-kick and a yellow card for Stuttgart’s midfielder.

Aktürkoğlu, who scored both goals when Fener beat Nice 2-1 in the second matchday, made no mistake from 12 yards. The former Galatasaray player scored the goal that knocked out Fenerbahçe from the Champions League before completing his move from Benfica.

The Portuguese side is now coached by Jose Mourinho, who was sacked by the Turkish side after they failed to make it into the league phase of Europe’s premier competition for the second year running. Tedesco, who spent seven years in Stuttgart’s academy, used this opportunity to return to club football after his spell with the Belgium national team.

And, it’s not debatable that his team thoroughly deserved their slender first-half lead. Even if the goal could have been avoided from Stuttgart’s point of view, the hosts were more adventurous in their approach.

The traveling fans also feared the worst when Jeff Chabot tussled with En-Nesyri as a last man, but the Danish referee Jakob Kehlet whistled for a Stuttgart free-kick. Jaquez was next to escape punishment as Fenerbahçe’s second penalty-kick was cancelled by VAR for an offside call.

Then, Hoeneß made his first substitution by introducing Deniz Undav. Suddenly, the Bundesliga side stepped up their efforts. After a couple of set-piece chances, Kehlet pointed to the spot for the third time in the game for a foul on Stiller.

However, the VAR check confirmed it was a wrong decision once again as the sought-after midfielder was actually the one fouling Álvarez in Fenerbahçe’s box. Undav finished the game wearing the captain’s armband with the Turkish international Atakan Karazor subbed off as part of a double substitution.

Stuttgart lost their momentum after the revoked penalty decision, but Undav missed the target from a promising position with only ten minutes left to play. The Bundesliga side failed to create another meaningful attack, even though seven minutes were added after the end of regular time. Including both coaches, the referee dished the yellow cards ten times in the hotly-contested game.

Stuttgart will now play Mainz twice in the space of three days. After their Bundesliga affair, in which Hoeneß’s side will hope to extend their winning run to five games, they will meet again in Mainz for DFB-Pokal action. They will be back at home in Europe when they entertain Feyenoord on November 6th.