First things first: get well soon to the fan who had to be treated in the South End at the end of the game. And get well soon to Elias Saad, who suffered a rather unfortunate injury during warm-up.
When you, as a newcomer to the league, narrowly lose to the runner-up while shorthanded, that looks on paper like a result you can live with. When you, as a team, defend for what feels like 85 minutes and then concede a goal in the 88th minute, that looks on paper like a result you can live with.
The match's statistics speak for themselves. 70% of the opponent's possession. Expected Goals on Target (xGOT) from 0,06 to 3,23 (according to fotmob.com) also clearly swing the pendulum in VfB's favor. So, FC St. Pauli's defeat against VfB Stuttgart was deserved.
The referee's performance was undeserved. While it doesn't justify throwing cups, one can certainly be upset about Florian Exner. Siebe Van der Heyden got the ball on his hand as he fell. That's undisputed. Where is he supposed to put his hand while flying toward the pitch? A difficult case. If that had happened during the FC Bayern vs. Bayer Leverkusen match, football Germany would probably be debating it for the next 10 days. We'll probably never know what the player should have done differently.
Siebe Van der Heyden denied a goal-scoring opportunity and received a yellow card for his unfortunate handball. Since he already had a yellow card, FC St. Pauli played with a man down for roughly 40 minutes.
The best brown and white player of the day, Nikola Vasilj, got upset about Stuttgart's time-wasting in the 96th minute and received a yellow card. When he responded with a "thumbs up," he immediately received a second yellow card and was sent off early. In my opinion, this was by far the biggest refereeing error of the Bundesliga season. Here, too: just imagine if Manuel Neuer had been sent off like that.
Everything I would like to write about referee Florian Exner's performance is not fit for print. I simply refer to the commentary by Tim in Millernton.
Otherwise, there were clear statements about the incident of Police in Oldenburg and President Oke shows his stance.
What's next? Next weekend is Bundesliga matchday in Hamburg. On Saturday and Sunday, the 2025 blind football season will be held at Borgweg. Please come along and watch this breathtaking sport. Admission is free, and the venue is located right next to the U3 Borgweg station. You can find the schedule at this address.
