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The 1: 3 at the end against Darmstadt 98 was nothing more than a side note. Because: VfB Stuttgart has risen, Mario Gomez has scored – and afterwards announced his immediate end of career. For good reasons.
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Stuttgart – At 5:09 p.m. the time has come. Mario Gomez, one of the best strikers VfB Stuttgart has ever produced, leaves the big football stage. His teammates on the lawn applaud, the coaches, supervisors and reservists on the bench bow in the jersey of the 34-year-old, who goes up into the stands and watches the last minutes alongside his wife and son. Another goal he sees there – but what’s the matter?
In his 230th and last competitive game for VfB, Gomez previously scored his 110th goal. And ten minutes after his replacement, his last mission was also accomplished: the return of his heart to the Bundesliga. “I am very grateful because it was my great wish to be able to do this,” says Gomez, who also announced the immediate end of his professional career: “There is still something like romance in football for me. It has always been my dream to end my career in Stuttgart – where it all started. So I dedicate the climb to the fans. ”
Read here: What Joachim Löw, Sami Khedira and Co. say about Mario Gomez
The rise to 1: 3 (1: 1) against SV Darmstadt 98 does not change anything, already the tenth defeat of VfB, which is somehow the fitting end of a second division season that is memorable in many ways. “It was a tremendous game,” says VfB CEO Thomas Hitzlsperger. “The expectations were rightly high – we only managed to achieve our goal at the very end. This season has taken a lot of strength. ”
Read here: Voices on the rise of VfB
With three points and eleven goals ahead of the third in the table from Heidenheim, there had been no serious doubt about VfB promotion even before the end. The defeat on the last day of the match is therefore little more than a further flaw, which once again clearly illustrates the weakness of VfB competition: Despite a 0-3 defeat by champions Arminia Bielefeld, Heidenheim reached the relegation matches against Werder Bremen because it was the Hamburg player SV failed to score at least one point against SV Sandhausen in their own place. The Hanseatic embarrassed themselves to the bone at 1: 5 – and now have to stay in the second division for a third year.
The many defeats have been forgotten for now
VfB, on the other hand, managed to rise again immediately, as it did three years ago and despite all the problems in the meantime. A detailed analysis of this changeable season should follow – but at least on that day the four defeats against the underdogs of Holstein Kiel and SV Wehen Wiesbaden, the derby disgrace in Karlsruhe or the change of coach, which was also necessary this season, are forgotten.
Three years ago it was Hannes Wolf who led VfB back to the Bundesliga, now it’s Pellegrino Matarazzo. “We have experienced highs and lows and have always stood up. Everyone has always believed that we can achieve our goal. I think that was crucial, ”says the VfB coach and is“ very proud of this team ”. With the two wins against SV Sandhausen (5: 1) and 1. FC Nürnberg (6: 0), he had brought his team on the Bundesliga course just in time – and was able to say goodbye to Mario Gomez with a place in the starting XI.
Gomez scores again in true goal-scoring manner
What everyone had hoped for happened shortly before the break: With a lunge, the former international struck 1-1 in the meantime. Previously, Serdan Dursun (32.) put the guests in the lead, after the break Matthias Bader (53.) and Tobias Kempe (88.) scored for the fifth in the table, who after the yellow-red card for Victor Palsson from the 67th minute had to get along with ten men.
At the end of the Gomez era, Thomas Hitzlsperger also felt melancholy: “Mario is an outstanding striker and an outstanding guy. I am very happy that he is so closely connected to VfB. We hope to see him again soon. ”It is unclear what plans Gomez has for the near future – but it is certain that VfB can play in the Bundesliga again.
The fans celebrate the climb in front of the stadium
Therefore, at least temporarily, VfB’s appeal to its own supporter not to come to the stadium is forgotten. On the circumference of the main grandstand, players can be celebrated by those fans who, despite all the Corona requirements, did not want to do without being as close as possible to the team. Of course, Mario Gomez is also the focus there. In the evening, the party at Amici in downtown Stuttgart, where there are many reasons to celebrate: Gomez gives up, VfB is back in the Bundesliga – and the next morning everyone is free.
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