Death of Christian Gentner's father at Stuttgart puts game into perspective | Andy Brassell

Stuttgart’s struggles this season paled into insignificance after the death of the father of one of their totemic players

When it’s all about the show, it’s easy to overdramatise results, moments, little victories, setbacks. In a season in which VfB Stuttgart have lost all the momentum from their excellent finish to last season, struggled for goals, for form and fired coach Tayfun Korkut as fears of a second relegation in three seasons have grown, they have been part of this sort of dialogue as much as any other club.

After a gutsy second-half display against Hertha Berlin, Stuttgart had battled to a second straight win at home, and a third in their last five Bundesliga games, which gave them a degree of extra comfort in 15th, having started the day two points above the foot of the table. After a rousing second-half comeback, the majority of the 47,680 gathered in a freezing Mercedes-Benz Arena exhaled a collective sigh of relief.

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