VfB Stuttgart
| 1-1 | Ibisevic | (19. Min) |
| 2-1 | Ibisevic | (55. Min) |
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
| 0-1 | Kießling | (13. Min) |
| 2-2 | Kießling | (59. Min) |
Simon Rolfes
Stats 
Hard-earned draw
Compared to the side beaten in Molde in midweek, Bruno Labbadia made five changes to his starting eleven. Raphael Holzhauser was in the starting eleven for the second time, with William Kvist, Gotoku Sakai, Arthur Boka and Maza returning to the team. The Mexican came in to replace Serdar Tasci, who was forced out of the squad with an Achilles tendon problem.
The volume was raised to a deafening level after just seen minutes of play in the Mercedes-Benz Arena as Gotoku Sakai sent Martin Harnik on his way. The Austrian’s square ball to the centre was cleared away for a corner by Leverkusen’s Daniel Carvajal.
The visitors from Leverkusen were then more successful in the 13th minute. Karim Bellarabi took on the ball on the right wing, close to the by-line, and drove a shot across the face of the goal. Sven Ulreich got a hand to the ball but could only push it against the knee of Stefan Kießling, from where it bounced into the net 1-0 Bayer.
VfB find a speedy answer
VfB shook off the setback quickly – with Raphael Holzhauser initially letting fly from 25 meters out, but unfortunately without success (17’). Just two minutes later, the home side were back on level terms. Holzhauser had set Ibrahima Traoré through in the box, but the pacy winger was felled by Simon Rolfes and Vedad Ibisevic stepped up to convert from the spot and make it 1-1 at half time.
Diashow
VfB brace scorer Vedad Ibisevic: “What a shame – we would of course loved to have taken all three points but we were playing against an extremely strong opponent." Post match comments
Holzhauser combines with Ibisevic to put VfB in the lead
The second period began with Sven Ulreich having to react quickly to stop an effort from distance. Subsequently, at the other end, a Raphael Holzhauser zipped just wide of the mark (48’) – as did an effort from Bellarabi in the 52nd.
VfB’s next positive moment in the game again involved Holzhauser and Ibisevic. The Austrian first intercepted a ball forward with his chest and then foiled his opponent before driving the ball across the face of the goal from the left to find the Bosnian striker, who turned the ball home from close range – much to the joy of the cheering 47,400 in the Mercedes-Benz Arena (55’).
The VfB fan’s celebrations were unfortunately short lived though, with Stefan Kießling rising to meet a Michal Kadlec delivery and heading home to make it 2-2. With the scores level again, the game lost a great deal of its pace and intensity.
Late free-kick
Notable was then a 40-meter drive forward from Martin Harnik, who took the ball from Tunay Torun on the half-way line, powered towards the Bayer goal and got a shot away. The shot sadly drifted well wide of Bayer’s goal.
Stefan Kießling had a further effort having been sent through by André Schürrle but was unable to hit the target. In the 77th minute, an extremely active Raphael Holzhauser was replaced by Zdravko Kuzmanovic. The Serbian international drove a free-kick from a good position into the wall late on and the follow up shot from Arthur Boka flew well high and the game finished in a 2-2 draw.
