Cautious start to the rescue mission: Returnee Bruno Labbadia and VfB Stuttgart missed the first win they had hoped for in the fight against relegation in their first competitive game under the old, new coach.

In the home game against FSV Mainz 05, the Swabians did not get more than a performance-related 1:1 (1:1) at the start of the year.

Serhou Guirassy (36') gave VfB the lead in what had been a turbulent game, but Marcus Ingvartsen (40') equalized with a penalty shortly afterwards.

While Stuttgart initially has to make do with the relegation place in the new year, coach Bo Svensson's team is still stuck in the lower middle of the table after the fifth game in a row without a win.

Labbadia, who had to do without the Croatian World Cup third-placed Borna Sosa at the start of the "rocky" path towards staying up, had promised plenty of offensive action in advance.

VfB will "not stand back and only defend," said the 56-year-old: "We have to work every inch of the pitch."

In the early minutes, his team made every effort to live up to the new coach's ideas - albeit with only moderate success.

Mainz knew how to compensate for the intensity of Stuttgart with their own aggressive style of play.

Consequently, the game was characterized more by a lot of duels than by actions in the penalty area, a long-range shot by Leandro Barreiro (15th) was the only noteworthy conclusion for a long time.

The lead doesn't last long

Any dangerous advances were subsequently thwarted either by the two well-positioned defenses or by their own mistakes, so Stuttgart's lead came as a surprise.

Guirassy, ​​who had missed just a few seconds earlier (35th) in front of the Mainz goal, did better at the second attempt.

However, the VfB joy did not last long.

In an attempt to clear, Naouirou Ahamada only hit his opponent, Ingvartsen confidently converted the penalty awarded according to the video study to the deserved break.

Both teams carried the momentum from the final phase of the first half into the second 45 minutes, to the benevolence of the spectators.

In what was suddenly a fast-paced game, Guirassy (53') went wide, shortly afterwards Aymen Barkok (57') after a Mainz counterattack and Guirassy (60') only hit the crossbar for VfB.