Stuttgart clawed back to draw with Bayer Leverkusen 3-3

STUTTGART FIGHTBACK LEAVES LEVERKUSEN STUNNED

Stuttgart - A stunning comeback rescued VfB Stuttgart a dramatic 3-3 draw at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

The Swabians fought back from three goals down thanks to strikes from Timo Werner, Florian Klein and Martin Harnik after Heung-Min Son’s double and Karim Bellarabi had given Leverkusen a seemingly comfortable three-goal half-time lead.

Son brace

Boosted by their streak of four competitive games without a defeat, Leverkusen settled into their rhythm quickly, dictating both pace and possession in the early stages against a deep-lying Stuttgart side. Their dominance paid off after four minutes when Son collected from Stefan Kießling to slot in from close range.

The South Korean was at the heart of all Leverkusen's attacking efforts, imposing a constant threat on the Stuttgart defence. He made it two only five minutes later, picking up Thorsten Kirschbaum’s loose clearance and hammering the ball into the back of the net from a good 30 yards.

Werner pulls one back

Antonio Rüdiger gave the guests their first serious warning at the other end with a promising header near the half-hour mark, but things soon went from bad to worse when, after Kießling’s effort from a tight angle bounced off the post, Bellarabi crowned a fantastic solo effort to hand Bayer a comfortable three-goal lead.

Stuttgart were never going to give in on their own patch, however, with Armin Veh’s men emerging for the second half completely rejuvenated. Martin Harnik came close to pulling one back for the Swabians, swerving marginally wide, before Werner went one better, nodding Klein’s cross into the far left corner.

Harnik to the rescue

The hosts managed to keep up the pressure against a detereorating Leverkusen side, bossing possession and carrying the far greater threat as the game progressed. The 2007 Bundesliga champions soon saw their efforts pay further dividends when Klein hammered the ball home from long range, leaving Bernd Leno in the Leverkusen goal with no chance whatsoever.

Sensing their chance to snatch an unlikely draw, Stuttgart threw men forward in the final stages, and it was the tireless Harnik who sent the home side level with 13 minutes on the clock, nodding in substitute Filip Kostic’s pinpoint free-kick to make it 3-3. Roberto Hilbert passed up one final chance to give Leverkusen a dramatic late win as a thrilling contest ended all square.

Borussia Monchengladbach salvage a draw with VFB Stuttgart 1-1

Vavel 

Borussia, fresh from their European tie on Thursday night kicked off with the noisy "Nord Kurve"behind them. 

Dominguez caught Harnik with a stray arm after two minutes and avoided a booking. The resulting free kick caused no problems and Sommer jumped and caught the ball with ease on his home debut. Traore had the first chance for the goals against his former club but he failed to guide his shot goalwards. 

Stuttgart found themselves pinned deep into their own half for the majority of the first ten minutes. A Traore corner on the tenth minute evaded everyone but found Raffael outside the box who wasted an opportunity by fizzing a shot wide. Hahn was next to take a bite of the apple but he, like his teammates before him, wasted his chance and shot wide.

Jantschke fouled Ibisevic after quarter of an hour and Maxim stood over the free kick in dangerous territory, however the Romanian youngster could only put the ball over the top of Sommer's net.

Traore, Hahn and Hrgota all countered with speed but the move was broken down by Traore's weak cross into the box that was dealt with by Schwaab. 

Sakai found himself free down the left hand side again and delivered a inviting ball along the floor intended for Ibisevic. It wasn't to be as Jantschke got infront of the Bosnian and put the ball in to touch. 

Stuttgart put the ball in the net as a result of a free kick but celebrations were cut short by the linesman who had his flag raised. Replays showed an Ibisevic push on Jantschke who'd got the better of him just moments before.

The sides went back into the dressing rooms goalless and there were certainly more negatives than positives for the hosts.

HALF TIME: M'gladbach 0-0 Stuttgart

The sides re-emerged soon unchanged and the visitors got the game rolling again. Hrgota somehow failed to convert into an open goal from just yards out with the first chance of the half. Up the other end Mönchengladbach were punished, Alexandru Maxim hit it low and hard across a helpless Sommer to give the visitors the lead after fifty minutes.

For the first quarter of an hour, The hosts looked like deer caught in the headlights and lost for ideas as their first half dominance was turning against them. Ulreich tipped a Xhaka effort round the post shortly before catching an audacious strike from Nordtveit. 

Hrgota found the net on the sixty-sixth minute but the flag was raised and the goal, subsequently chopped off. The pending change of Hazard for Hrgota went through and one can only wonder would it have happened had Hrgota converted and been onside? Stuttgart made their first change of the afternoon on the seventieth swapping in recently acquired Gruezo for Didavi.

Xhaka hit another effort at goal which was tame at best and straight at Ulreich who looked unbeatable.

World Cup winner Christoph Kramer and US International Fabian Johnson were introduced just minutes later for Nordtveit and a below average Hahn. 

Kramer's first touch of the ball was a cheeky lobbed effort that went over the defence and found Hazard whose fierce half volley could only leave the woodwork shaking.

Gladbach went into the final ten with some new found control which they found with the introduction of Kramer and Johnson eight minutes prior. Ibisevic and Gentner linked nicely before the latter brought out a fine save from Sommer at his near post.

With little over a minute of regulation time remaining Dominguez cut back for Kramer who smashed home past a number of men in red to tie the game at 1-1. 

There was a rather generous three minutes serving of injury time, by Bundesliga standards but neither side could grab a late winner and the game ended a stalemate.

Not the most convincing of performances by Gladbach but you could argue they had one eye looking forward to Thursday's Europa League playoff second leg against FK Sarajevo. 

Robert Lewandowski scores a hat trick as Borussia Dortmund pummels VFB Stuttgart 6-1

Marco Reus scored the second goal
 of the six scored by Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund blasted VFB Stuttgart with a 6 goal performance at home ground against a miserable VFB Stuttgart. 

Stuttgart drew first blood as Karim Haggui scored a header from a corner by Alexander Maxim in the 13th minute.  But five minutes later, Dortmund the first goal which would set up a 6 goal fest for the host. 

Dortmund answered in the 19th minute when Sokratis heads a corner by Nuri Sahin.  In the 22nd minute, Marco Reus scored in a fierce counter attack with Robert Lewandowski to smash the goal.  

In the second half, striker Robert Lewandowski took over and scored a hat trick including two goals which came only a minute apart.  In the 55th minute, Marco Reus back heeled a pass Lewandowski in a congested box with the latter made a flick before smashing the ball into the net.  A minute later, Henrick Mkhitaryan lob went to Lewandowski who slip past defenders Gotoku Sakai and Karim Haggui to score a rare back to back with a minute apart.  

Lewandowski scored his third in the 72nd minute when he collected a Jacob Blaszczykowski shot that hit the near post with a tap in.  Lewandowski could have scored a fourth goal by Pierre Emerick Aubamayeng's ball has crossed the goal line already when Lewandowski follow it up with a header. 

VFB Stuttgart draws with Nurnberg 1-1

Vedad Ibesivic's bicycle shot that missed

VFB Stuttgart jumps to an early lead in the latest round of the Bundesliga against FC Nurnberg. Barely 2 minutes after kickoff, Nurnberg defender Timothy Chandler fouled Alexander Maxim near the goal line.  That set up the Vedad Ibesivic penalty attempt that went inside the net trouble free.  

Not long after, FC Nurnberg reciprocated. In the 6th minute, Robert Mak lobbed a forward pass to striker Josep Drimic , who is apparently in an offside position but was not called, slotted the ball which hit the far post first before it crossed to the opposite post and into the net.  

From then on, both teams had great opportunities to score, most of it coming from Stuttgart, but none of it was converted.   The best among them is in the 45th minute when Alexander Maxim lobbed to Martin Harnik who missed the shot despite firing from point blank range.  For most of the game, Alexander Maxim was busy feeding hungry strikers Ibesivic and Martin Harnik at the front but excellent defense from Nurnberg prevent the two from completing the plays. 

The game ended in a draw but not before William Kvist lobbed a nice pass to Alexander Maxim whose shot was partially blocked by Rafael Schafer and finally cleared by Emmanuel Pogatetz