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Fabregas, Cesc |
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Handanovic, Samir |
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Messi, Lionel |
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Baptista, Julio |
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Robben, Arjen |
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Walcott, Theo |
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Gourcuff, Yoann |
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Crespo, Hernan |
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Gallas, William |
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Higuain, Gonzalo |
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I’ve been a mediocre VFB Stuttgart supporter for a long time, perhaps because I grew up nearby that city, which is known for its car industry (Mercedes Benz) and for being provincial, as compared to other German cities like Munich or Berlin. So I followed their matches, their ups and downs, their big players and also their fight for recognition in the Bundesliga throughout the years. They never made an all too big impact on the international football scene and had a rather hard fight in keeping up with other Bundesliga giants, like Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen.
There was Jürgen Klinsmann of course in the late 1980's and later Krasimir Balakow, but nobody made a bigger impact in this Schwabian club than a young unknown Belarussian midfielder, who I had the chance to see for my first time in 2001, when Felix Magath took over a club, that had a huge financial crisis and almost dropped down into the second Bundesliga, due to catastrophic results and management. So the Stuttgart officials had no other chance, than to buy some “cheap” players from Eastern Europe and take some talents from their U-19 teams into the professional squad, which resulted in a magnificent run to the top of the Bundesliga in the following years.
On that Saturday afternoon in the Neckarstadium in early 2001, I was invited by a friend to join him to watch a match, which I first turned down, arguing that I’m not really in the mood to watch “lower than average football games from uninspired German Bundesliga clubs”, but due to having no other plans for that afternoon, we nevertheless decided to go and watch the game VFB Stuttgart vs. 1.FC Kaiserslautern, which turned out to be a true surprise. After the first 20 minutes I commented: “Well this side is not as bad, as I thought.” After 45 minutes: “Who is that thin blonde guy, who dribbles this slaloms on the left flank?”. After 90 minutes: “Wow….what was that?” I had some kind of revelation. I’ve watched a true football artist, performing his early masterpieces.
After that revelation, I’ve started to watch the games by VFB Stuttgart regularly - in the stadium, on TV and sometimes even their trainings. I was able to observe, how a true no-name, seemingly physically much too weak for the rough German defenders, made one step after another in becoming the best midfielder of the Bundesliga. Krasimir Balakow was Stuttgarts “Number 10” at that time and Hleb seemed to be some kind of pupil of this great Bulgarian midfielder. But after “Bala” ended his career, he truly devoted himself in coaching and developing Hleb’s style, giving him more confidence and working on some technical details, so that the former pupil became a master of his own.
