Makaay, Santa Cruz floor Stuttgart
Bundesliga Gameweek 7 (Midweek)
VfB Stuttgart vs Bayern M?nchen
Gottlieb-Daimler stadion, Stuttgart
The Match:
Stuttgart and Bayern meet in the Bundesliga today and a win for either team can take them to the top of the table. With Hertha Berlin also in action today, we have a total of three teams fighting for the top spot.
A near capacity crowd of 54,216 is present at the Gottlieb-Daimler stadion for this cracking encounter.
Stuttgart are on a three match winning streak, while Bayern are still unbeaten.
Here are the lineups:
Subs:
VfB Stuttgart-
34 Alexander Stolz,19 Danijel Ljuboja,21 Ludovic Magnin,9 Marco Strellar,40 Christian Genter,3 Christian Tiffert,5 Markus Babbel
Bayern M?nchen-
22 Michael Rensing,23 Owen Hargreaves,63 Michael Stegmayer,20 Hasan Salihamidzic,14 Claudio Pizarro,12 Christian Saba,18 Andreas G?rlitz
Claudio Ranieri's tried and tested 4-4-2 diamond, but an injury to Cacau sees Mario Gomez start alongside Jon Dahl Tomasson. Silvio Mei?ner holds on to the defensive midfield position as Fernando Meira has still not recovered from his concussion.
Felix Magath is playing a 4-4-2 standard formation with two changes from the last game. Bixente Lizarazu and Martin Demichelis come in for the injured Philipp Lahm and Jens Jeremies. Owen Hargreaves starts on the bench once again.
The referee for this game is G?nter Perl.
The Result:
Goals:
Roy Makaay's header in the fifth minute gave the visitors the lead, before Santa Cruz made it 2-0 in the 27th minute after pouncing on a rebound. Stuttgart pulled one back in the second half through a fantastic freekick from substitute Danijel Ljuboja. But Bayern held on to win 2-1.
It was a game of two halves. The first half saw the visitors take total control of the game and show their class. The likes of Ballack, Schweinsteiger, Makaay, Santa Cruz, and Deisler were too good for Stuttgart. The home side were clueless as the defending champions romped to a comfortable 2-0 lead in the first half.
But Stuttgart fought back well in the second half as Bayern reduced their tempo a bit. Danijel Ljuboja who came on as a substitute at half-time was especially good and manager Claudio Ranieri probably should consider starting him in the next game. Ljuboja was the one who pulled one back for the home side, but Bayern held on to the win and grab top spot in the Bundesliga table.
Stuttgart were absolutely hopeless in the first half but responded pretty well in the second. Ljuboja's introduction definately made a difference, and the likes of Zivkovic and Meissner also did well in the second half. However it still wasnt enough to find the equaliser.
For Bayern the three main performers were Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Roy Makaay. Roque Santa Cruz also had a good game scoring one goal and creating the other. Sebastian Deisler also impressed during the game. Bayern looked to be running away with the game in the first half, but had to face a resurgent Stuttgart side in the second. Ljuboja's goal in the 68th minute made the final section of the game very interesting indeed.
Michael Ballack was named man of the match for producing a masterful display that was great to watch. He pretty much controlled the game today.
Stats:
The stats indicate an even game, but as mentioned above, it was a game of two halves. The first one was completely Bayern's while Stuttgart came back well in the second. Although we werent able to prevent the defeat. The visitors also made better use of the ball.
Note: Oliver Kahn is named as Jens Mustermann in FM2006 because of copyright issues