4-3 in Stuttgart – late winner secures three points

Compared with the 2-0 defeat in the Round of 16 second leg in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, head coach Xabi Alonso made two changes to his starting line-up: Nordi Mukiele and Robert Andrich replaced Arthur and the injured Mario Hermoso. The Werkself initially pressed forward towards the opposition goal but the crucial passes in the final third lacked accuracy.

deservedly behind at half-time

The hosts were clinical with their first decent attacking action of the game: Lukas Hradecky was able to parry a powerful shot from Jamie Leweling but was unable to prevent Ermedin Demirovic converting the rebound from close range (15'). At the other end, Patrik Schick had the best chance for Leverkusen five minutes later but he failed to find the target. The Werkself had more possession in this phase of the game but lacked penetration up front. Hradecky pulled off an impressive save in added time to keep out Enzo Millot (45+1'). Half-time soon followed.

powerful Werkself secure late win

The second half started with another blow for the Werkself: Nick Woltemade rounded off a VfB counter-attack with a goal to make it 2-0 (48'). The Werkself found a suitable reply from Jeremie Frimpong with a shot into the far corner of the net from the right side of goal (56'). Stuttgart then regained their two-goal lead with an own goal from Granit Xhaka on 62 minutes. While there was little goalmouth action for either side in the first half, the second 45 turned into a real goal fest – with the next one scored by Piero Hincapie following a corner (68'). Schick then had another attempt on goal set up by substitute Victor Boniface (80') and there was a big chance for fellow substitute Amine Adli (82').

The champions wanted to win – and were rewarded for their efforts. Boniface broke into the box on the left and crossed only for Stuttgart defender Angelo Stiller to turn the ball into his own net in an attempt to clear. 3-3. And the Black and Reds continued to press forward: Schick scored late in added time with a header from a Frimpong cross to make it 4-3 (90+4') – and that marked the start of the Leverkusen last-minute party.

outlook: Vfl bochum after international break

The final international break of the season is followed by three fixtures in close succession. First, VfL Bochum visit the BayArena on Friday, 28 March (kick-off: 20:30 CET). That is followed by the DFB Pokal semi-final away to Arminia Bielefeld (Tuesday, 1 April, 20:45 CEST) and the Bundesliga away game at FC Heidenheim (Saturday, 5 April, 15:30 CEST).

Match stats:

VfB Stuttgart: Nübel - Al-Dakhil (Chabot 77'), Jeltsch, Hendriks, Mittelstädt (Führich 89') - Karazor, Stiller - Millot (Undav 68'), Woltemade, Leweling (Vagnoman 68’) - Demirovic (El Bilal 77’)

Bayer 04: Hradecky - Mukiele, Tah, Andrich (Arthur 74’), Hincapie - Xhaka, Garcia (Boniface 57’) - Frimpong, Palacios, Grimaldo (Boniface 57’) - Schick

Goals: 1-0 Demirovic (15’), 2-0 Woltemade (48’), 2-1 Frimpong (56’), 3-1 Xhaka (62’ o.g.), 3-2 Hincapie (68’), 3-3 Stiller (89’ o.g.), 3-4 Schick (90+4’)

Yellow cards: Karazor, Jeltsch, Woltemade - Andrich, Hincapie, Alonso (head coach)

Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)

Attendance: 59,000 (sold out) at the MHP Arena