Déjà vu for VfB sly Demirovic

Tip, heel, 1-0: Ermedin Demirovic outwits Freiburg's defender and scores. IMAGO/Pressefoto Baumann

His scissor-kick on the first matchday of the previous season remains unforgettable. Ermedin Demirovic gave the runners-up a 1-0 lead in Freiburg in just the second minute. It "really felt like déjà vu." "We actually started well, scored again, and basically had everything under control," explained the Bosnian international. "I thought this would be a game we could finish with a clean sweep. But in the end, we couldn't do it."

In the end, no one asks how you played when you get the points.

What exactly was the problem? "We played a lot in our half, defended a lot," says Demirovic, who doesn't find that objectionable. "There have to be days when we don't play our best football. You have to be able to say: Who cares, in the end, no one will care how you played if you get the points."

The table in Breisgau was certainly set with three points. But instead, the guests were treated to a three-course meal of unimaginative, harmless, and unsuccessful dishes. Garnished with words that repeat themselves. "We can't be satisfied," said Sebastian Hoeneß in August 2024, who this time added "not satisfied at all."

A boost of words and actions will follow. But for now, the Swabians' latest defeat at the hands of their Baden rivals remains like a thorn in the thumb of the cup winners, who find themselves among the stumbling blocks for the time being. "We have to invest more in a game like this to ensure we take something away from the end," said the head coach after this year's match. "That was unnecessary. But we have to accept it and make sure we definitely do better next Friday against St. Pauli."

Demirovic has already highlighted one approach to this. He's heard statistics "that we ran less." Seven kilometers less, to be exact. 112.52 to Freiburg's 119.67. A difference that can't be adequately explained by Stuttgart's possession-based football alone. "That probably shows that we threw a little less into the mix and Freiburg wanted it a little more," said the striker, who had to deal with questions about his goalscoring ability after Nick Woltemade 's departure.

"It didn't bother me, but I did read it because I saw it every day," grumbles the 27-year-old. "Ever since Nick left, all anyone's written about is that we don't have any strikers, that we're not well-staffed. But it doesn't affect me at all." This is probably what the attacker wanted the public to know with his wiping gesture after his goal. As if Teflon-Demirovic wanted to let doubts and criticism slide off him. "I'm trying to do my thing, like I did last season. If people like it, then it's good. If they don't, then that's just the way it is."

Goals are the best arguments. Demirovic knows this, and this time he unleashed all his cunning and turned a minimal scoring opportunity into a goal. "In that moment, there's nothing else you can do. I shield the ball and realize my back is to the goal. I have to try a backheel. Luckily, the ball goes in. I'm happy about that, of course, but after a game like that, it just hurts like hell because the goal doesn't mean anything."