Stuttgart-Sparta ends in 1-1 stalemate
Visiting Sparta Prague effectively equaled the offensive efforts of their hosts in the first half, and were even a bit unlucky not to go ahead.
A focused defensive effort from Lars Friis' Sparta in the second half enabled the underdogs to snatch a point off the favorites.
Sebastian Hoeneß' VfB Stuttgart have now drawn their last two matches on-the-bounce after the spoils were shared between the hosting Swabians and visiting Czech League Champions Sparta Prague on Tuesday evening. An early tally for the hosts was canceled out by a relatively quick answer from their guests. Honeß' Württembergers found it too difficult to punch through against Lars Friis' deep defending team in a largely uneventful second half.
With his two personnel changes from Saturday's draw against Wolfsburg, Hoeneß ended up keeping the team in the projected 4-2-3-1 formation. Mixing things up a bit as he has done in this young campaign, the VfB trainer mixed things up a bit on the flanks by deploying Enzo Millot on the right and Jamie Leweling on the left.
This change reaped almost immediate dividends, with Leveling locating Maximilian Mittelstädt on the left overlap in the 7th. Millot polished off Mittelstädt's cross for the early 1-0. To their credit, the Czech guests managed to muster up a strong response to the early deficit. Several spirited attacking waves followed.
A foul from Stenzel in the 12th gave the visitors an excellent opportunity with a free-kick in a dangerous area. The Swabians were lucky that Martin Vitik's header off the 13th-minute service only hit the post. Sparta continued to press forward, with Stuttgart needing some time to wrest control of the match back.
Undav unfortunately missed his attacking colleague Ermedin Demirovic in a wide open position in the 27th. Five minutes after that, the German national team striker was made to pay for his mistake as a beautifully curled free-kick from Kaan Kairinen enabled Sparta to equalize in the 32nd.
The game was burst wide open with plenty of action at both ends before the opening 45 concluded. The guests found themselves once again unlucky not to score, when a Veljko Birmancevic effort struck the crossbar. The Czechs finished the half with two strikes of the aluminum.
The two teams traded chances after the restart. Millot failed to beat Sparta keeper Peter Vindahl after he received a deflected Angelo Stiller effort in a promising position in the 48th. At the other end, VfB keeper Alexander Nübel had to keep out a 55th-minute Birmancevic effort with a strong leg-save.
Matter calmed down significantly after the opening ten minutes of the second half. Stuttgart unquestionably played forward more constructively than their opponents, but lacked real ideas when approaching the final third. Only Stiller could manage an artistic, yet tame, effort on goal in the 72nd.
The visitors proceeded to shell up and defend deep in the final 20 minutes. Substitutes Chris Führich and Fabian Rieder were able to get efforts off in the final ten minutes, but nothing that posed too much trouble for net-minder Vindahl. Friis' conservative tactics ultimately secured the point.