Deniz Undav on why VfB Stuttgart couldn’t see out the game against Bayer Leverkusen: “Maybe a few of the players got intimidated by the atmosphere”

Speaking to Sat1 (via @bayer04Xtra) after their loss on penalties to Bayer Leverkusen, VfB Stuttgart striker Deniz Undav gave his thoughts on why Stuttgart did not see out the win.

Undav came on in the second half and scored with his first touch to give Stuttgart the lead, however, in the 88th minute Leverkusen would equalise through Patrik Schick. Die Werkself would then go on to win the game on penalties. 

On why the team couldn’t hold on to their lead and see out the game, Undav said: 

“I don’t know maybe a few of the players got intimidated by the atmosphere. That’s the only explanation I can think of, but that just can’t happen at this level.”

Even though Stuttgart lost the game on penalties, they once again showed that despite the loss of key players in the summer they will still be a tough team to play against as for the majority of the game in the BayArena last night they were the better team, summer signing Ermedin Demirovic was particularly impressive leading the line. 

Last season, on three occasions they also showed how are currently one of the only teams in Germany to be able to match up with Leverkusen and take the game to them. Although last season they failed to beat Die Werkself, they drew with them twice and lost once, with two of those results coming from last-minute goals from Leverkusen. 

The pair will meet again on November 2nd in Leverkusen once again and if last night was anything to go by, that too will be a great game.

GGFN | Jack Meenan