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Bayern Munich v VfB Stuttgart 2:1 (1:1)

Bayern 2 Stuttgart 1

Bayern end league campaign as best home team

14.05.2011

As it turned out, Bayern’s slender hopes of second spot were not to be fulfilled on the last day of the 2010/11 season, but Andries Jonker’s side closed their league programme with an entertaining 2-1 win over Stuttgart to finish third in the Bundesliga and seal a Champions League qualifying spot.

The 69,000 capacity crowd at the Allianz Arena saw the home side, playing for the first time in their new red and gold jerseys, start brightly enough but fall behind to a Shinji Okazaki strike midway through the first half. Mario Gomez, confirmed as the league’s leading scorer this season, levelled from a superb pass by the outstanding Arjen Robben, but the sides cancelled each other out for long spells after that. Bastian Schweinsteiger headed FCB into the lead with 20 minutes to go, and Jonker’s men comfortably held out to claim a 13th home win of term.

The result, coupled with Leverkusen’s 1-0 win away to Freiburg, means Munich have come third in the Bundesliga on 65 points from their 34 matches, three off second-placed Bayer and five clear of Hannover in fourth. The Bavarians round off a roller-coaster season with three friendlies in the coming week, before the playing and coaching staff start their official summer leave. Training under new boss Jupp Heynckes officially restarts on 1 July.

For his final game in charge, interim coach Jonker made two changes to the side which destroyed St Pauli last week, Holger Badstuber replacing the injured Luiz Gustavo, and Miroslav Klose in for the suspended Franck Ribery. For Stuttgart, fresh from securing their top flight status last week, boss and former FCB striker Bruno Labbadia fielded Pavel Pogrebnyak in place of club captain Cacau (groin surgery).

The afternoon opened with farewells and a bouquet of flowers each for Thomas Kraft, Hamit Altintop and Andreas Ottl, all of whom are leaving the club, but once referee Florian Meyer whistled play underway, any end-of-term feeling rapidly vanished as the sides served up a hard-fought, high-tempo first period with chances at both end.

Both keepers were in action early on, Jörg Butt saving from Zdravko Kuzmanovic, and Sven Ulreich blocking shots by Robben and Klose, who then fired over with the goal at his mercy. Worse was to come for the Germany striker, as he totally miscued from just a couple of yards following Robben’s piercing run to the by-line.

VfB made the most of the let-off and seized the initiative for a spell, Okazaki initially testing Butt from distance, and then netting from close range on 24 minutes after Martin Harnik broke clear and crossed first time from the right. Butt tipped a Christian Träsch curler away to safety, before the score in missed sitters moved to 1-1 when Austria international Harnik inexplicably failed to connect when faced with an empty net.

A moment of Robben magic led to the 37th-minute equaliser and swung the balance back Bayern’s way. The Dutch superstar controlled a long pass with a superb first touch, before setting off on a weaving run across the face of the box and slipping a sublime pass between four VfB defenders, leaving Gomez with the simplest of tasks from eight yards.

Butt was forced to tip a Pogrebnyak thunderbolt over the bar before half-time, but although the intensity remained high after the restart, chances became thinner on the ground as the sides paused for breath.

FCB upped the pace on the hour, but Thomas Müller came up inches short of Schweinsteiger’s clever headed pass, and Jonker opted for fresh impetus on 65 minutes by sending on Ottl and Toni Kroos for Tymoshchuk and the luckless Klose. Serdar Tasci put a rare Stuttgart chance into Row Z, but Schweinsteiger deservedly put Bayern ahead on 71 minutes with a near-post header from Kroos’ inswinging free-kick.

Gomez came within an ace of his 29th goal of the season only to flick Lahm’s cross onto the underside of the bar, before Kuzmanovic shaved the crossbar with a free-kick. Gomez walked off to a standing ovation three minutes from time, his place going to Danijel Pranjic, but although the visitors ended the game on the attack, the match ended in an ultimately deserved home win.

Live match report for fcbayern.de by Chris Hamley

MATCH STATS

Bayern Munich - VfB Stuttgart 2-1 (1-1)

Bayern Munich: Butt - Lahm, Van Buyten, Badstuber, Contento - Tymoshchuk (Ottl 65), Schweinsteiger - Robben, Klose (Kroos 65), Müller - Gomez (Pranjic 87)

Substitutes: Kraft, Jüllich

VfB Stuttgart: Ulreich - Boulahrouz, Niedermeier, Tasci, Boka - Träsch (Didavi 86), Kuzmanovic - Harnik, Hajnal (Gentner 82), Okazaki - Progrebnyak (Schipplock 78)

Referee: Florian Meyer (Burgdorf)

Spectators: 69,000 (capacity)

Goals: 0-1 Okazaki (24), 1-1 Gomez (37), 2-1 Schweinsteiger (71)

Yellow Cards: Klose, Van Buyten / Boka, Niedermeier

Credit: FC Bayern Munich (www.fcbayern.t-com.de)