Trainer Bruno Labbadia would very much like to have sent out the same starting eleven that began against Schalke (1-0) last weekend but an injury to Khalid Boulahrouz forced the coaches hand. Christian Gentner came into the side to replace the Dutch international, moving into central midfield alongside Kuzmanovic, with Christian Träsch moving out to the right full-back position.
 
The home side controlled the early phase of the tie but never really looked threatening in front of goal – that said, with the very first genuine attempt, Pauli took the lead. A long pass forward found Fabian Boll, who chested the ball down and slotted past Sven Ulreich to make it 1-0. VfB quickly recovered from the set-back and began to create some openings of their own. Shinji Okazaki, who like the rest of the players was wearing a black armband as a mark of respect for those currently suffering in Japan, tested Thomas Kessler with a shot from distance. The FC keeper could do nothing to prevent the Stuttgart equalizer in the 24th minute. From a free-kick, Hajnal played a pass back into the path of Kuzmanovic, who drove in his shot powerfully from 30 meters out to make the score-line 1-1 as the sides went in at the break.

Fifth booking for Harnik

Early in the second period, Sven Ulreich stopped a shot from distance by Fin Bartels. Soon after, substitute Stefano Celozzoi, who was brought in to replace Molinaro (knee injury) sent in a cross for Harnik, which the Austrian international was unfortunately unable to make a clean contact with. In the 66th minute, Kuzmanovic bent a free-kick around the Pauli wall but Thomas Kessler was down quickly to save. Substitute Timo Gebhart then tried his luck from a set piece in the 74th minute but again the St. Pauli keeper was equal to the effort. Martin Harnik slammed a shot over soon after, but the front man had already seen his fifth yellow card of the season and will not be available against VfL Wolfsburg next weekend. With time quickly running out for VfB, Labbadia replaced Pogrebnyak with Sven Schipplock and the young front man rewarded his coach with a stunning winner in the 88th minute.