Very important result for VfB Stuttgart
An open first half produced chances at both ends as Alexander Esswein tested Oliver Baumann and Stefan Posch cleared a Kramaric strike off the line inside 15 minutes. Kramaric tickled the side netting and Kerem Demirbay sent a free-kick narrowly over, before former Hoffenheim defender Andreas Beck headed against the inside of Baumann’s inside-post following a corner. It proved an agonising passage of play for the relegation-threatened Schwaben, with Kramaric sweeping past the despairing dive of Ron-Robert Zieler just moments later to tie Sejad Salihovic as Hoffenheim’s all-time leading Bundesliga marksman on 46 goals.
Hoffenheim went within a whisker of a second early in the second half when Pavel Kaderabek headed a Demirbay cross onto a post. The visitors lost Joelinton to injury just past the hour mark, but continued to find joy in the final third as Demirbay curled wide after latching onto an audacious Kramaric back-heel. Julian Nagelsmann’s side had kept only three sheets all season, however, and Stuttgart duly equalised through Zuber’s composed finish from Beck’s cut-back. Substitute Daniel Didavi had a shot blocked as Stuttgart pressed for a winner, but Hoffenheim held on for a result that does more for the hosts’ survival hopes than it does their own top-six ambitions.
Andrej Kramaric became Hoffenheim’s joint-record Bundesliga goalscorer, but VfB Stuttgart’s Steven Zuber grabbed the equaliser against his parent club in an entertaining south-west derby at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on Saturday.
VfB Stuttgart 1-1 Hoffenheim;
Goals: 0-1 Kramaric (42′), 1-1 Zuber (66′)
