The late, late show in Stuttgart | OneFootball

In the fourth and sixth minutes of stoppage time, a BVB side that had been inexplicably quiet in attack up to that point created their first two chances of the match and converted both, once again demonstrating outstanding efficiency to secure a 2-0 victory away at VfB Stuttgart. “That’s a quality in itself. A remarkable quality, in fact,” said Sky pundit Wolff Fuss as he left the stadium. BVB scored in stoppage time for the sixth and seventh time this season, meaning they have secured a total of eight points late on in games. They are clinical and have the belief that anything is still possible!

Sky expert and record-breaking international Lothar Matthäus went even further in his assessment, putting the development down to one person: “I think that BVB can be proud of this Bundesliga season and proud of these 13 or 14 months with Niko Kovac. How they extricated themselves from the situation and sensationally achieved a minimal target last year.” And now they have successfully fended off a challenge from a rival for second place, consolidating their position in the table with an 11-point lead. “His tactics have worked brilliantly again today,” said Matthäus about Kovac, adding: “Always keep a clean sheet first.” They have now managed that 13 times this season!

“All in all, we’re having a really good season,” said Kovac, who had previously spoken very clearly about his team’s shortcomings in the match against VfB – as can be read here in the post-match comments. He went on to say: “Last season, we were 25 points behind Bayern Munich, and I think 13 points behind Leverkusen. We’re not finished yet as we’ve still got a few points to pick up, and that’s what we want to do.”

The team is showing hunger, even if Saturday’s performance in Stuttgart wasn’t what fans, officials and players had expected. After the 14-day international break, Gregor Kobel suggested one possible reason: “I don’t know if it’s down to the international break, where you play different systems and need a bit of time to settle back in here.” The keeper said he was delighted with the two late goals: “We knew they were vulnerable to counter-attacks.” Karim Adeyemi (90+4) and Julian Brandt (90+6) struck in the closing minutes as VfB had all their attacking players on the pitch and went all out.

“That sucker punch could have gone either way,” said Marcel Sabitzer, adding: “We defended with real passion. And then we played two good counter-attacks and scored some fine goals. It was a bit lucky, but we’re happy to take it in the end.” Kobel put it in similar terms: “We took our chances ruthlessly. In the end, it’s three points away from home against a very good opponent in a difficult match.”

Julian Brandt was delighted with the spark the substitutes brought to the game. “Karim scores the goal as a substitute, I score my goal as a substitute and Fabio provides an assist as a substitute.” 14 of the 60 goals this season – almost one in four – have been scored by substitutes. No other team comes anywhere near this figure. Sabitzer summed it up: “If you run a lot and tire the opposition out, you need a few fresh legs coming on. And we have that quality.”Boris Rupert