Demirovic Equalises After Stage’s Early Goal as Stuttgart Secures a Draw to Climb to Fourth Place

The hosts got off to a slow start, a consequence of their exhausting extra-time battle on Thursday that secured them a spot in their second consecutive DFB-Pokal final.

Bremen looked to take advantage and nearly opened the scoring early on. However, Senne Lynen, yet to find the net in 92 Bundesliga appearances, squandered two chances before Jens Stage’s header drifted wide of the far post.

Stuttgart ignored these early warnings and found themselves trailing after 18 minutes when the in-form Stage met a cutback from Yukinari Sugawara with a sublime first-time low finish.

A busy Mio Backhaus in the Bremen goal reacted well, fending off a powerful header from Bilal El Khannouss and safely gathering a deflected free-kick from Maximilian Mittelstadt.

His finest moment arrived during stoppage time as he thwarted a curling shot from Deniz Undav, moments after Jovan Milosevic missed a glorious opportunity to double Bremen’s lead by curling his shot wide after getting past Dan-Axel Zagadou.

Stuttgart displayed minimal improvement early in the second half, leading coach Sebastian Hoeneß to introduce Chris Fuhrich and Ermedin Demirovic from the bench.

This change proved crucial, as Demirovic headed in El Khannouss’ cross just four minutes after coming on to equalise.

Bremen’s attacking threat waned significantly after the break, and they missed a golden opportunity to regain the lead when Stage, unmarked in the six-yard box, could only shoot weakly at Alexander Nubel.

At the other end, Backhaus showed his skills again by pushing a free-kick from Angelo Stiller away from danger, as Bremen held on for a draw that sees them climb above three relegation competitors, now six points clear of the drop zone.

This point marks Bremen’s first success against the current top five this season, while Stuttgart are left reflecting on three matches without a win in the league.

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