VfB Stuttgart's relegation: Too good to fail

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Enzo Millot scored twice for VfB Stuttgart

Photo: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / EPA

Mode Millot: Enzo Millot was almost considered a failure at VfB Stuttgart. "At the moment, the training performances don't match what we need," Bruno Labbadia said of the Frenchman in January before leaving him out of the squad several times. Labbadia has been history as VfB coach since April – and Millot is an important factor under successor Sebastian Hoeness. So important, in fact, that the 20-year-old Frenchman has now secured the Swabians' relegation at Hamburg's Volksparkstadion: first a finish by Daniel Heuer Fernandes' suspenders (48th minute), then an air hole from the HSV keeper exploited by Millot for the decision (64th). Young, strong and successful – in the final stages of the season, Millot embodies what VfB Stuttgart has been trying to be all season.

The result: VfB Stuttgart wins 3-1 (0-1) at Hamburger SV in the Volkspark, the three-goal lead from the first leg was only briefly in danger. The Swabians will continue to play in the Bundesliga next season, while HSV will compete in league two for the sixth time in a row. Click here for the match report.

Nothing else matters: Hamburger SV had to pull out all the stops after the high bankruptcy to have any chance at all. For Tim Walter's team, that meant training at the Volksparkstadion, perhaps the most important factor for a possible HSV sensation. Officially, the aim was to test the stadium turf, which had been newly laid after the Metallica concerts – by the way, a public training session turned into a secret one.

All on no card: Defensively, however, Walter had to improvise: Jonas David was absent due to illness. So Javi Montero had to do it. The Spaniard had been signed on loan from Beşiktaş in the winter to replace Mario Vušković, who was suspended for doping. So far, Montero had managed to do so rather poorly with two dismissals (each yellow-red) in four league games, but this time he had to deliver.

The People's Park is on fire: And he actually delivered, HSV. Where there was still a lot of shock in the first leg, Sonny Kittel scored in minute six to take the lead, with a powerful shot at the left inside post. Two goals were still missing, 84 minutes remained on the clock - the 57,000 in the stadium believed in the big comeback, and HSV coach Walter in his parade role as an active volcano on the sidelines anyway.

Breadless art: After that, however, little came from the people of Hamburg. And on the part of the people of Stuttgart? Slightly more. What came was beautiful: Serhou Guirassy managed to turn around his own axis in the five-metre area and artfully manoeuvre a flat pass into the far corner with a hoe. But because Guirassy had been offside just under half a minute earlier and the VfB move had run continuously since then, the goal didn't count – HSV remained in front.

A bit of escalation: After the break, first the game and then the mood changed. Millot's equaliser was accepted by HSV, but when VfB turned the game around and the Frenchman cheered provocatively in the direction of the Hamburg fans, the pack was formed. There was pushing, scolding, referee Bastian Dankert handed out four yellow cards. Stuttgart's Borna Sosa, who had sprinted across half the pitch to throw himself into the fray, later explained the scene with Hamburg provocations: "Normally, I don't like something like that," said the left-back, who left his VfB future open. "But some HSV players always said shit to me for 90 minutes."

The Hoeneß factor: Another sentence of Sosa was to be understood more as an outlook. "VfB Stuttgart is a big club," said the 25-year-old. "He can't normally play in the relegation play-offs either." An indication of the correctness of this statement: VfB's playful superiority against one of the best second division clubs. Another is the form table since coach Sebastian Hoeneß took office. The sample of eight Bundesliga games is small, but fifth place in the Hoeneß table still suggests that much more is possible for VfB.

They will be back: Meanwhile, the defeated Hamburgers had to struggle with emotions. Eight days earlier, the fans had already celebrated the supposed promotion by storming the pitch, but now things turned out differently. Heuer Fernandes, who had conceded a third goal through Silas shortly before the end, was close to tears at the moment of defeat - and yet he looked ahead: "Look at the team, look at the performance," said the German-Portuguese. "Look at the enthusiasm we've sparked." The keeper hinted that he wanted to go the way together with coach Walter for another year. He was combative for the next attempt at the Ascension mission: "We fall, but we don't lie down, we get up again."