VfB Stuttgart striker Vedad Ibisevic missed a penalty with the last kick of the game as the hosts drew 1-1 with Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Ibisevic skewed his shot to the right of Kevin Trapp’s goal, missing the chance to make it three wins from three since new coach Thomas Schneider took over.
“It’s a shame for the club because we deserved the win, but It can happen. I’m sorry,” Ibisevic said.
Photo: EPA
The penalty was conceded by Sebastian Rode for a foul on Ibrahim Traore in the fourth minute of stoppage-time.
“You can’t blame Vedo,” Stuttgart coach Schneider said. “He took the risk and sometimes you have to accept that it goes to the side.”
With Stuttgart playing in retro jerseys to celebrate the club’s 120-year anniversary, it was the visitors who scored first when Marco Russ stabbed the ball into the roof of the net after a corner in the 14th minute.
Then 17-year-old Timo Werner equalized with a header after a Stuttgart corner one minute later.
“It doesn’t get any better,” Werner said.
Vaclav Kadlec and Stefan Aigner came close in an exciting second half for Frankfurt, before Stuttgart’s Alexandru Maxim had a goal ruled out for offside.
Ibisevic also missed a chance in the 83rd minute when he eluded four defenders before firing over, though he will rue the later missed chance more.
“Of course it’s unlucky how it happened, but perhaps it’s fairer based on the performances [of the two sides],” Stuttgart captain Christian Gentner said.
SC Freiburg are still waiting for their first Bundesliga win of the season after a 1-1 draw at home with Hertha BSC.
“We don’t have the quality to win these games at the moment. It doesn’t matter, we can live with it,” said Freiburg coach Christian Streich, whose side has been weakened by departures in the summer.
Admir Mehmedi put Freiburg ahead in the sixth minute when Sebastian Freis played him through to round the goalkeeper and slot into the unguarded net.
It got worse for Hertha in the 20th minute when US defender John Anthony Brooks went off injured with a suspected dislocated elbow, but the visitors regrouped and Per Ciljan Skjelbred deservedly equalized in the 38th minute when he slid in ahead of his marker to deflect Ronny’s throw-in inside the far post.
Both sides canceled each other out in a scrappy second half, before Gelson Fernandes struck the post for Freiburg in the final minute, when he only had the goalkeeper to beat.
“We’re lucky to get away with the point,” Hertha coach Jos Luhukay said.
Freiburg goalkeeper Oliver Baumann was left to rue the missed chances.
“We really deserved the win here today. We fought intensely, gave it everything,” Baumann said “It’s a pity, but we’re on the right path.”
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