VfB Stuttgart
Hamburger SV
| 0-1 | Rudnevs | (50. Min) |
Georg Niedermeier
Stats 
Further disappointment
No joy once again for VfB as they slumped to a 0-1 home defeat to Hamburger SV. The guests were not the better side on the day, but one powerful strike decided the destination of the points.
For Bundesliga match day 25, Bruno Labbadia made four changes to the side that began in the Europa League on Thursday. Gotoku Sakai, Shinji Okazaki and Fedrico Macheda returned to the bench, whilst Alexandru Maxim was forced out with a broken nose and concussion. The places in the first eleven were filled by Vedad Ibisevic, Martin Harnik, Raphael Holzhauser and fit again Georg Niedermeier.
Holzhauser hits the bar
Both sides began the game cautiously, which led to little being created in front of either goal early on. In the 13th minute, Raphael van der Vaart fed Artjoms Rudnevs, but the Latvian’s header missed the target. Soon after, the home side went even closer at the other end. From 20 meters out, Raphael Holzhauser curled in a free-kick, which took a slight deflection off the wall before René Adler turned the ball against the crossbar (16’). With the scores locked at 0-0, the sides went into the half-time break.
Rudnevs rocks VfB
For the second half, Shinji Okazaki replaced Raphael Holzhauser in an attempt to add some weight to the home side’s attack. From the re-start, VfB put the pressure on and, following a corner, Georg Niedermeier nodded on to Serdar Tasci, whose header failed to make an impact (49’).
VfB head-coach Bruno Labbadia: "We lacked clear direction in our play in the first half but we still created the better chances."Post match comments
With the hosts looking to take control in front of 47,100, the visitors struck from out of the blue with a stunning shot. A cross from Dennis Diekmeier found Rudnevs in the centre, and the Latvian hammered an unstoppable volley past Sven Ulreich – 0-1 (50’). Shortly afterwards, Per Skjelbred fired a shot on goal, but this time Ulreich was equal to the effort (53’).
HSV were anything but deservedly in front and VfB continued to battle in search of a way through, with striker Federico Macheda replacing Ibrahima Traoré. Tomas Rincon tried his luck from distance but with no joy for the visitors. VfB sought a way through and in added time, Martin Harnik made a break on the right, but the Austrian’s delivery was blocked away (90’ + 1) and, in the end, VfB were left empty handed.
