Stuttgart – Borussia M

The Gladbach club is not bad enough to lose in Stuttgart.

In the season before last, Stuttgart became the vice-champion of Germany, finishing ahead of Bayern and other clubs in the division, except for Bayer, in the final match. In the past championship, the team demonstrated a decline in performance, which is characteristic of immature teams that have had a 'breakthrough' season. In the Champions League, the 'Swabians' could not progress to the knockout stages, finishing 26th in the group stage, while in the league, they ended up in ninth place. It might seem that the previous season could be labelled a failure; however, Sebastian Hoeneß was able to sweeten it with a genuine trophy – a victory in the national cup. This result allowed the coach not to worry about his future in Stuttgart and to prepare the team for the new season. Borussia Mönchengladbach is one of the most stable clubs in the Bundesliga. The team began its eighteenth consecutive season in the elite of German football. However, the successful period of the club from 2011 to 2020, associated with the names of Lucien Favre, Dieter Hecking, and Marco Rose, is now far behind. Now, the Gladbach club is a stable mid-table team and is currently not making coaching decisions to change the situation. Bookmakers have determined the home side as the favourites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.61 for their victory. During the off-season Stuttgart retained almost its entire core. The only player they couldn't keep was Enzo Mvila, who left to earn money at Al-Ahli. Stuttgart strengthened the right flank by signing Assignon from Rennes and Ivanovic from Red Star. In attack, Thiago Thomas arrived from Wolfsburg, while the midfield was bolstered by young players from Barcelona and Real Madrid who have yet to make their mark. On the field, Stuttgart has little to boast about so far. They lost the German Supercup to Bayern with a score of 1:2, as well as their opening match against Union Berlin. The 'Swabians' could have also lost the cup match in Braunschweig, but after an exhilarating match that ended 4:4 after 120 minutes, they eventually prevailed in the penalty shootout. Borussia has brought in players worth 16 million euros during the off-season, but they decided to gradually integrate them into the squad. In the starting lineup for the first round of the Bundesliga, only central striker Tabakovic featured, who performed distinctly poorly against Hamburg. The other newcomers came on as substitutes and allowed the opponent to level the game. There are now questions about the performances of both Stuttgart and Borussia. In this context, it is unlikely that their head-to-head encounter will conclude with a confident victory for either side.