Trainer Bruno Labbadia made three changes to his starting eleven, and altered the system, in comparison with the side which began last weekend against HSV, with Arthur Boka, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Tamas Hajnal coming in to replace of Cristian Molinaro, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Christian Gentner. Instead of using a two man defensive midfield and a lone striker, the coach opted for a more traditional 4-4-2 set-up – which saw William Kvist shore things up in front of the back four and Hajnal slot in behind the front men.

During the first 45 minutes, chances on goal were few and far between, with most of the action confined to the centre of the park. VfB’s best chance of the first period fell to Shinji Okazaki in the ninth minute. Following a corner, the ball was cleared initially, but only as far as the Japanese international, who fired his drop-kick from 15 meters out high over Kevin Trapp’s crossbar. As a result of the lack of opportunities, the teams went into the break still locked at 0-0. 

Move of the match leads to opener 

Bruno Labbadia apparently hit the right tone at half-time, as a much more determined and committed VfB took to the pitch for the second period. In the 52nd minute, the best move of the match, to that point, led to VfB taking the lead. Tamas Hajnal played an excellently weighted pass wide into the run of Khalid Boulahrouz, who squared across the face of the goal for captain Cacau to touch the ball over the line from close range – 1-0.