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Stuttgart (AP) - It was a goal with a symbolic character.

Namely one with a very, very long run-up.

In his own penalty area, Silas Wamangituka started his solo, with which he put the lid on in the 2-0 (1-0) of VfB Stuttgart against FSV Mainz 05 on Friday.

The Swabians had hoped in vain for their first home win eight times this season, but they finally succeeded in the ninth attempt - also thanks to tempo dribbler Wamangituka and his eleventh goal of the season in the 72nd minute.

Previously, Sasa Kalajdzic (55th) had paved the way for VfB, who had only scored five points from the previous seven games, with a header goal.

"Yes, actually," answered Stuttgart trainer Pellegrino Matarazzo when a journalist asked whether he was happy to be able to put the annoying home misery to an end.

"A nice goal" was also by Wamangituka, said the coach and praised the offensive man for how he "found the space to lock" after his exhausting sprint.

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Instead of almost only talking about the quarrels that have been going on in the management floor for weeks, they are now talking at least temporarily about the young and wild ones who caused a sensation in the first half of the Bundesliga.

And given their ample cushion on the relegation rank, Stuttgart, who with the exception of the games against FC Bayern (1: 3) and RB Leipzig (0: 1) had never been the really worse team on the field in their previous home games, with the relegation battle possibly soon nothing more to do.

Even if they struggled against the robust penultimate from Mainz for a long time, the Swabians had light moments again and again thanks to their top talents Nicolas Gonzalez, Borna Sosa, Kalajdzic or Wamangituka.

Gonzalez, the promotion hero of the preseason, artistically lifted the ball just over the goal in the 13th minute.

The tech-savvy Sosa hit a wonderful cross when Kalajdzic hit a header - and the two-meter-long Austrian executed for the sixth time this season.

And Wamangituka, who started tirelessly as always - and almost 20 minutes before the end of all of them.

With 14 goal participations (eleven goals, three assists) the Congolese is already in this season.

If he got bogged down in some of his offensive actions last season, he now usually presents them much more carefully and precisely.

And at an irresistible pace.

"He does it well, you have to acknowledge that," said Mainz captain Danny Latza of the ARD.

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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210130-99-231244 / 2

Squad VfB Stuttgart

Schedule VfB Stuttgart

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Squad FSV Mainz 05

Schedule FSV Mainz 05

Bundesliga table