VfB Stuttgart striker Deniz Undav remains in red hot form. In point of fact, using the phrase “red hot” to explain the Bundesliga professional’s current scoring surge remains a total understatement. The run that began with a late goal against Feyenoord in the Europa League keeps rolling on. Since then, Undav has scored eight goals in six matches across all competitions.
After Feyenoord, Undav bagged a brace in a 3-2 league win over Augsburg. He then snagged a hat trick in a 3-3 Bundesliga draw with Borussia Dortmund. Though he didn’t manage to score in the next Europa League fixture against Go Ahead Eagles Denventer, Undav still got his name on the scoresheet with two assists in the 0-4 away win.
Another goal in a losing effort against Hamburger SV over the weekend and yet another tally in last night’s DFB Pokal victory left him with? Undav himself wasn’t sure. After netting the crucial 0-2 at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion yesterday evening, broadcast cameras caught Undav apparently trying to work it out himself as he strode away from the net to celebrate.
“I wasn’t quite sure where I was [in terms of scoring],” Undav told Sky Germany last night. “So I counted them. We’ll see if I can keep up the run. Whether things are going well or badly, I always have a big mouth. Right now, I can do that because everything is going well. But at some point, there will be a phase where things aren’t going well, and then people will say again that I talk too much.”
If Undav can indeed keep up the run, the six-times-capped German international will soon need more hands. Undav’s importance for his team extends beyond the scoresheet. It was the former Brighton man who drew a red card out of Bochum defender Philipp Strompf shortly before the end of the first half.
After Strompf – who had already put Stuttgart ahead with an own-goal – was sent off, the Westphalian hosts had to play the entire second half down a man. Undav’s decisive 0-2 (scored just after the change of ends in the 47th-minute) effectively put to rest all hopes of a Bochum comeback.
Just as he did against Feyenorrd at the beginning of the current streak, Undav hammered in the “final nail in the coffin” against an opponent.
