VfB Stuttgart hopeful 'special Champions League evening' will help boost flagging Bundesliga campaign
VfB Stuttgart players and officials believe that Tuesday evening's impressive Champions League performance against Atlético Madrid can serve as a turning point in their disappointing start to the Bundesliga campaign. Despite settling for a 1-1 draw after playing the final half-hour with a numerical advantage, the Swabians emerged from the encounter with renewed confidence in their ability to compete against Europe's best teams.
Stuttgart entered Tuesday's matchhaving collected just six points from their opening six Bundesliga fixtures. Sebastian Hoeness' side had nevertheless won both of their opening Champions League encounters and delivered another convincing European performance against Diego Simeone's Spanish title challengers.
Jamie Leweling's 36th-minute opener, his first goal since March, rewarded Stuttgart's aggressive pressing and attacking enterprise. Although Julián Álvarez equalized immediately after the interval, the hosts continued to compete admirably and created further opportunities after Morten Hjulmand's 64th-minute dismissal.
Left-back Maximilian Mittelstädt insisted that Stuttgart's performance had provided definitive evidence of their quality. "We are good, that's not up for debate," Mittelstädt told reporters in the mixed zone.
"If you perform like that against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, there's no room for a split opinion. We have the ability to perform within us.
Today, I had the feeling that we gave 100 percent from the start. Everyone pushed themselves to their limits.
With such energy, we're a top team." "We have attacking quality," Mittelstädt continued. "What's been missing these last few weeks and months has been capitalizing on opportunities.
It's absolutely the case that, against a team like Atletico, one has to turn a little into a lot. Unfortunately, we turned a lot into a little today.
We nevertheless put forth a good game and we can build on that in any case."