“It feels fantastic to have earned these three points”: Reaction after Stuttgart’s slender victory

Here are the voices from the Stuttgart camp following their 1-0 win over Heidenheim.

In difficult conditions, VfB battled their way to a hard-fought home victory despite not being at their best, thanks to a decisive strike from Bilal El Khannouss. The match-winner reflected afterwards:

“My goal was instinctive: I knew I had put myself in a good finishing position and then tried to put the ball on target with pressure and precision. It’s all the more pleasing that it worked. It feels fantastic to have earned these three points. We’re very happy; it was an important victory, one we earned together.”

Following on, head coach Sebastian Hoeneß praised his team’s mentality: 

“Today, a lot was about willpower and mentality; the boys covered many, many kilometers. We started the first half well and had a great early chance to make it 1-0 through ‘Bad’ (Badredine Bouanani, editor’s note) . Overall, we faced a very well-prepared opponent defensively and we ourselves fell into a passive slump.”

He later added: 

“It would have been less stressful, of course, if we had made it 2-0 – but since we couldn’t do that, it remained an open game until the end. Overall, we conceded very little and even stayed clear on the long balls in the closing stages. We’re happy with the win.”

Stuttgart head into the international break with a perfect home record and sitting fourth in the table – full of momentum as they prepare to resume action away to Wolfsburg in two weeks’ time