Borussia Dortmund vs. Stuttgart: Winners and Losers from Bundesliga Game
Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart played to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday, a result that saw BVB drop points for their third time in five games and their visitors climb from bottom of the table to 17th in the Bundesliga standings.
After a scoreless first half, Daniel Didavi netted a brace to put VfB comfortably ahead. Dortmund battled back, though, and managed to equalize due to a late pair of goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ciro Immobile. Lukasz Piszczek was denied a winner by Antonio Rudiger's goal-line clearance in injury time, and the teams had to settle for a draw.
The match wasn't exactly the most beautiful from either side, with silly defensive mistakes and poor passes marring a meeting of sides that in recent history has often produced some excellent football.
Click "Begin Slideshow" for a look at the players who came out better and worse after Wednesday night's action.
Winner: Daniel Didavi
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Once one of the Bundesliga's finest young attacking midfielders, Daniel Didavi has seen his career blighted by injuries. The ex-Germany under-21 international missed all but the final seven games of last season with bone edema that had also seen him miss much of the 2012-13 campaign. In 2012-13 he also suffered from knee cartilage damage, limiting him to jut three Bundesliga matches.
In spite of his many injury setbacks, Didavi has always found it in himself to put his best foot forward and come back. He's now a starter at Stuttgart and, on Wednesday, he scored his first two goals of the new campaign.
The 24-year-old's opener shocked the home fans; the second put the match out of reach. His efforts breathed life into a Stuttgart side that desperately needed a reason to be optimistic. And they gave Didavi reason to believe in himself.
Loser: Marcel Schmelzer
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With Erik Durm having established himself as a Germany international and having played at both left- and right-back in recent weeks, Marcel Schmelzer's place in the Dortmund starting lineup is very much in danger. On Wednesday, the 26-year-old made two simple, poor mistakes that should have cost Dortmund any chance of taking points from Stuttgart.
For the first, Schmelzer was dispossessed on his own by-line before the ball was crossed for Didavi to stab home. Then the Dortmund defender intercepted a long pass but was unable to clear the ball out of his penalty area. Timo Werner squared for Didavi to finish quite comfortably.
Durm is much better going forward than Schmelzer and, although relatively new to the defensive position, is apparently no more error-prone than his teammate. Schmelzer could soon be decidedly a permanent second-choice.
Loser: Milos Jojic
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Five months ago, Milos Jojic emerged as a huge talent for Dortmund, the January signing having played a heroic game against Real Madrid in the Champions League. Instead of taking the next step this season, however, he's regressed.
With both Ilkay Gundogan and Nuri Sahin injured, Dortmund have desperately needed a central midfielder capable of taking on the duty of distributing the ball and setting up play from deep. The 22-year-old Jojic has struggled to live up to the task; he's done some things well but in general has lacked that extra bit of class that his injured teammates can provide. For Jojic against Stuttgart there were several instances in which a lazy touch or a poorly-aimed pass resulted in a wasted opportunity.
Jojic has big shoes to fill and perhaps should not be expected to deliver in the same way as Gundogan or Sahin. Regardless, either he'll need to step up his game or Dortmund will need to figure out a new way to operate with him in the lineup.
Loser: Sven Ulreich
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A former Germany under-16, under-19 and under-21 international, Sven Ulreich was once one of the Bundesliga's top goalkeeping talents. In recent years, however, the emergence of Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Bernd Leno, Kevin Trapp, Ron-Robert Zieler and Timo Horn in particular have pushed him several rungs down the ladder. Ulreich is generally a fairly reliable goalkeeper, but he just isn't regarded in quite the same way as some of his competitors.
On Wednesday, Ulreich showed why he's no longer considered among the top candidates to join the German senior national team as he made a silly mistake that cost Stuttgart two points. In the dying minutes, and with his team still a goal ahead, the 26-year-old came off his line to claim a cross but missed entirely, leaving an open goal for Ciro Immobile to volley into. The Italian made no mistake and leveled the score.
In the end, VfB could consider the result two points dropped rather than a point earned.
