He has something that can hardly be learned: peripheral vision. Lars Stindl has always been a football player from the corner of his eye, whose intuitive power and imagination benefited his teams. That was already the case in his five years at Hannover 96 (2010-2015) and continued in the following eight years at Borussia Mönchengladbach. At both clubs, the quiet leader and captain impressed with his grace on the ball and his ability to initiate decisive moments or finish with a shot on goal.
Now, at the age of 34, Lars Stindl has returned to his hometown club Karlsruher SC to round off his career where his Bundesliga career began in 2008. For his debut in the Wildpark Stadium, which was completely renovated for around 150 million euros, he charmed his Baden fans with a fabulous volley in the 4-2 defeat in a spectacular friendly against Liverpool. At the second division home premiere on Sunday in the sold-out 33,000 spectators in the sparkling white arena in the second division top game against Hamburger SV, Stindl once again impressed with his perspective.
In the final seconds of the game, he saw before all the other pros that KSC still had the chance to round off the duel with the North Germans, who had started well in the 5-3 win over Bundesliga relegated Schalke 04, with a final point from Baden. “I see Budu scurrying through my field of vision with one eye,” he described the final moment of this spectacular second division encounter, “and then I just tried to put the ball through.”
A Stindl stroke of genius
No sooner said than done: The Georgian national player Siwsiwadse met Stindl’s ideal template and pushed the ball into the net at Hamburg keeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes for a fair 2:2. Referee Felix Brych then blew the whistle again before calling it off immediately afterwards.
A match in which Karlsruhe scored the first goal (through Schleusener/14 minutes) and the last goal and HSV, in their best phase, won the game with Benes’ magical free kick (61 .) and Glatzel’s hit a little later (65th) was able to turn to the final counterattack by KSC.
After that, the focus was again on the player who has not made much of a fuss at any of his jobs in German professional football. Which was never difficult for him because Stindl’s extra quality spoke for himself and the unobtrusive and unexcited personality of the former national player with eleven appearances. He shines also because he lets others shine.
Lars Stindl is often inconspicuous off the field. : Image: dpa
KSC trainer Christian Eichner, who shares Bundesliga memories with Stindl in his early days as a professional player in Karlsruhe, enthused after the draw between two ambitious second division teams with first division dreams. “As a club, we can’t appreciate enough to have a player like that with us. It was a real gift for us from day one.”
Back to the roots: Lars Stindl’s longing for home has been combined with Karlsruhe’s heartfelt desire to return to the Bundesliga as soon as possible with the still fresh-looking offensive game handlebar in a new arena at a familiar location. After two days of play, the attacking seventh from the previous season is fourth for the time being – tied with the third HSV. Lars Stindl, surrounded by qualified midfield colleagues such as Marvin Wanitzek, Paul Nebel and Jerome Gondorf, assesses the collective quality of Karlsruhe as “very good”, although “there is still room for improvement in the last third”.
Jörg Strohschein, Gelsenkirchen Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 2 Frank Heike, Hamburg Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 6 Published/Updated: Published/Updated:
“Maybe,” he says, “we could be a bit more cold-blooded here and there.” Just like him. That’s one of the reasons why Captain Gondorf praises the returnee in the highest tones. “Lars,” he says, “has lost his calm. He has always been very clear and has a special eye for his team-mates. It’s extremely difficult for an opponent to get hold of him.” An example can be seen on Sunday in the top game between KSC and HSV in the second division.