With no changes in the starting eleven compared to the side that began in Lisbon on Thursday, VfB took on Bayer Leverkusen, who went in front with their very first attempt on goal. Sidney Sam broke to the by-line on the left side before squaring to the centre, where Gonzalo Castro failed to make a clean connection but Stefan Kießling was perfectly played to slot the loose ball into the back of the net. The 3,000 travelling fans didn’t hang their heads for long though. In the 16th minute, Tamas Hajnal picked out a gap in the Bayer defence and played through to Martin Harnik, who latched onto the Hungarian’s pass to drive the ball past Rene Adler and make it 1-1. Shortly before the break though, the hosts hit back once again. Simon Rolfes picked our Michael Kadlec, who drove the ball into the centre where Castro volleyed. Sven Ulreich was down quickly to parry the initial shot but the ball bounced up again kindly for Castro to head past the now stranded keeper and give his side a 2-1 lead to take into the half time break.

Kießling delivers injury-time knock out

Stuttgart came out for the second period with all fires blazing, as they went determinedly in search of another equaliser. And the visitors were eventually to be rewarded for their efforts with a stunning drive by Zdravko Kuzmanovic. The Serbian international drove an unstoppable shot past Rene Adler into the top left corner of the net from easily thirty yards out. With just over an hour played, Cacau tried his luck from distance but the German international was denied by the width of the post. Soon after, the Brazilian born front man thought he had put his side into the lead but an off-side flag cut the celebrations short. Bayer didn’t manage to create anything threatening whatsoever until the 80th minute, but the home team took the lead once again with their long awaited first chance of the second period. Gonzalo Castro swung a corner into the VfB penalty area, where Stefan Reinartz was unmarked and easily able to nod the ball home. VfB threw everything into attack, but it was Bayer that had the next chance – a shot from Erin Derdiyok which Sven Ulreich was equal to. Cacau had another opportunity to level the scores again late on but was unable to make effective use of the opening. In injury time, Stefan Kießling then landed the knock-out blow. Sidney Sam played through to the German international, who made it 4-2 from close range.
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