VfB Stuttgart suffered a 2-1 defeat at Hoffenheim on Saturday and are fuming over a controversial refereeing performance. The club's frustration centres on a denied penalty appeal following a collision that injured midfielder Angelo Stiller during his 100th Bundesliga appearance for Stuttgart.

Stiller injury without VAR review

Midway through the first half, Stiller clashed with Ozan Kabak inside the Hoffenheim penalty area in a knee-to-knee challenge. Stiller went down in clear discomfort, but referee Sven Jablonski allowed play to continue. Video assistant Tobias Welz did not intervene. "It wasn't a fortunate moment for us," said sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth. "He gets a clear hit on the knee in the opposition penalty area. For me, that was a clear penalty." Head coach Sebastian Hoeneß added, "You immediately see how his knee flails away. There's no delay between the contact and the sensation of pain." Hoeneß confirmed that Jablonski had not properly seen the incident himself. "Then he has someone in the [VAR] cellar who can see it for him," the coach noted.

Handball decision causes confusion

Shortly before halftime, Welz did become involved in another penalty-area incident. A shot from Adam Hložek struck replacement Yanik Spalt's hand. Jablonski was sent to the monitor and, after review, awarded a free-kick to Stuttgart for an earlier handball by Hložek. This intervention irked VfB's officials. Wohlgemuth questioned, "With the handball, from my point of view, there was nothing to interpret at all. Then everyone gets confused. It gets annoying!" He criticised the lack of consistency in VAR's application.

Stiller initially tried to play on but was forced off approximately ten minutes after the collision. Hoeneß said the player suffered a knee hematoma, with the full extent still unclear. Wohlgemuth described the injured midfielder as the team's "rhythm-setter," and Stuttgart indeed lost fluency after the substitution. The defeat is their second in the first three matchdays, leaving them 14th in the Bundesliga with three points. Adam Hložek scored twice for Hoffenheim (13', 67'), with Maximilian Mittelstädt (48') pulling one back. A clear late chance wasted by Deniz Undav, who opted to square the ball instead of shooting, sealed the loss. Hoeneß summarised that his team lost "in both penalty areas."

VfB must now quickly regroup. Their next fixture is at home against second-placed Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. The current Bundesliga standings show all the details of the tight mid-table battle.

The report in full is at sports.yahoo.com