The boys from Cannstatt went on the front foot right from the off in England and were rewarded as early as the eighth minute when Serhou Guirassy powered into the box down the left, outfoxed a defender and fired a left-footed shot in at the near post. VfB retained control of the game after taking the lead and doubled their advantage around the quarter-hour mark when Guirassy buried a perfect cross from Wataru Endo just under the crossbar.
Guirassy hat-trick
Guirassy completed his hat-trick on 58 minutes when Silas found him unmarked inside the home side’s penalty area. There followed a number of substitutions on both sides – including Deniz Undav making his VfB debut as a replacement for Enzo Millot – and the hosts improved as the match wore on, but despite seeing more of the ball they never seriously threatened Alexander Nübel’s goal.
VfB head coach Sebastian Hoeneß: “On the whole we did well. We created chances when we had the ball and didn’t really let them create anything at the other end. It was a good, aggressive performance and we worked very hard in our counter-pressing in particular. The fact that we’re heading home without any injuries makes it a successful weekend. We took the next step in order to be ready for next week.”
VfB line-up
33 Nübel – 2 Anton, 3 Endo © (77′ Ulrich), 8 Millot (61′ Undav), 9 Guirassy (77′ Milosevic), 14 Silas (77′ Raimund), 15 Stenzel, 16 Karazor, 21 Ito (61′ Mavropanos), 23 Zagadou, 27 Führich.
Goals: 0-1 (8′) Guirassy, 0-2 (15′) Guirassy, 0-3 (58′) Guirassy.