Hamburger SV
VfB Stuttgart
| 0-1 | Klein | (42. Min) |
Georg Niedermeier
Rafael van der Vaart
Stats 
Flo Klein and Gente celebrate the opener.
Ten men secure three points
What a battle! VfB played 40 minutes against Hamburger SV with just ten men, but at the end of the ninety minutes, the Cannstatt Boys stole away all three points. The success was a vital one in the relegation battle – and well deserved! The only goal on the night was scored by Florian Klein.
Trainer Huub Stevens made two changes to his starting eleven from last Saturday’s game, with Martin Harnik, returning from a neck injury, and Alexandru Maxim, who had been suffering with a thigh problem, back in from the outset.
VfB take charge
The game got off to a scatty beginning, with misplaced passes from both sides interrupting the play. Florian Klein tried his luck from distance (5‘), whilst Gotoku Sakai and Sven Ulreich foiled HSV’s early efforts (8’). As the game progressed, VfB took ever more control in a hard fought and high-tempo affair.
Martin Harnik (32‘) and Alexandru Maxim (34‘) both went close, but the visitor’s best chance of the first half fell from a corner delivered by the Romanian international, which Georg Niedermeier put past HSV keeper Jaroslav Drobny, but Lewis Holtby was well placed to clear off the line (36’).
In the 42nd minute, HSV had the chance to make a quick break, but Florian Klein was alert to the danger, cutting out a pass from Rafael van der Vaart and playing out wide to Martin Harnik, whose attempted pass took a deflection off Hamburg‘s Valon Behrami and fell fortunately for Alexandru Maxim. The midfielder laid a pass back to the advancing Florian Klein, who slotted home perfectly, to give VfB a 1-0 lead, which they took into the break.
Christian Gentner: "The three points are very good for us, especially as we could close the gap on some of our direct opponents in the relegation battle" Post match comments
Niedermeier sees red
VfB made a bright a promising start to the second period, but a somewhat rash decision from the referee was to throw the game wide open. Georg Niedermeier brought down Artjoms Rudnevs, although with the ball already getting away from the Latvian and Gotoku Sakai on hand to clear, but the referee considered the infringement from the VfB defender to be a professional foul and duly dismissed Niedermeier. From the resulting free-kick, Rafael van der Vaart struck the crossbar (54‘).
Reduced to ten men, the Cannstatt Boys found the play confined to their half of the pitch. HSV pressed for an equaliser, but VfB held their own against the north Germans. In spite of their best efforts, the hosts could find no way through against Huub Stevens‘ well drilled defence. VfB were forced to focus on their defensive duties over the remainder of the game, but with the support of some 1,500 travelling fans, VfB Stuttgart hung on to steal away all three points.
