VfB Stuttgart
FC Bayern München
| 0-1 | Robben | (41. Min) |
| 0-2 | Alaba | (50. Min) |
Oriol Romeu
Stats 
Bayern stunners decide the tie
On match day 20, VfB made the more promising start in the south German derby, but it was FC Bayern who made their one clear effort counter. After the break, the all-time record title holders increased their lead to 2-0 – something of a flattering end result.
Huub Stevens made two changes to the eleven that began against Köln on Wednesday night, with Vedad Ibisevic and Gotoku Sakai coming in from the outset in place of Martin Harnik and Sercan Sararer.
Right from the kick-off, VfB displayed some true determination and spirit against the league leaders, looking to press early and make life difficult for the guests. The first chances of the game fell to the home side, but both Timo Baumgartl’s header, as well as a volleyed try from Moritz Leitner failed to really trouble Manuel Neuer in the Bayern goal. By the half-hour point, FCB had the clear bulk of the possession, but the next chance on goal again fell to VfB. Florian Klein, Adam Hlousek and Christian Gentner combined with Gotoku Sakai, to put the Japanese international into a good shooting position, but the full-back’s curling effort from the edge of the box clipped the outside of the post and bounced out of play.
Huub Stevens: "Of course we are disappointed but we need to pick ourselves up and carry on. We have time until match day 34. What counts is where we are at the end of the season, not where we are now."
As is so often the case, wasted chances can be cruelly punished and that was the case just before the break. A deflected pass fell perfectly for the always dangerous Arjen Robben, who immediately left fly with a dipping shot, which left Sven Ulreich without a chance and gave the visitors from Munich a 1-0 advantage to take in at half-time in the capacity filled Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Perfectly executed free-kick decides the game
Martin Harnik was introduced as a more attacking option in the second half in place of Daniel Schwaab, but in the 51st minute, the Austrian international saw his fellow countryman David Alaba hammer home an unstoppably well executed free-kick from 25 meters out, to make it 2-0 for Bayern.
Huub Stevens reacted by bringing a further attacker, in the shape of Alexandru Maxim in place of Oriol Romeu, but for all of their determined efforts, the home side were unable to really create anything that looked genuinely threatening in front of the FCB goal – although the same set of circumstances applied at the other end of the pitch!
With the game in its closing phase, Sven Ulreich made a strong save from Robert Lewandowski to keep the hopes alive for his side, but Bayern reduced their efforts to maintaining possession and seeing out the game with their 2-0 advantage intact. It may have been a slightly flattering result in Bayern’s favour in the end, but the Munich side will merely be interested in having stolen all three points away from Stuttgart.
