Big points on the road

VfB team boss stuck to his guns and followed the old theory of never changing a winning team as he started with the same eleven that began in last weekend's 2-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach as he prepared to take on Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
And Babbel's theory proved stunningly successful after just three minutes. Ludovic Magnin powered down the left before crossing into the box where Mario Gomez stormed in to hammer the ball under the crossbar - 1-0 for VfB. With the visitors in front, the game became somewhat hectic. The home side went aggressively in search of an equaliser and had chances through Arturo Vidal and Renato Agusto, but VfB held on to take their narrow lead into the half time break.

"Hitz the Hammer"

Only four second half minutes had been played at the LTU arena in Dusseldorf when Vidal, who had been booked in the first half, saw his second yellow after he brought down Mario Gomez on the end of the box, and Leverkusen were reduced to ten men. Thomas Hitzlsperger took on the responsibility of the free-kick and drove an unstoppable shot (107 km/h) over René Adler's head to make it 2-0. Bayer soon after made a number of personnel changes and were soon back within touching distance of Stuttgart when Steffan Kießling profited from a goal mouth scramble to make it 1-2. Leverkusen began to gain the upper hand but VfB stood their own and just when it seemed least likely, the visitors floored Leverkusen with an excellent counter attack. Ciprian Marica played wide to Roberto Hilbert, who drilled a ball across the face of the goal and Gomez slid in to make it 1-3. With the game all but over, and both sides tiring, Lukas Sinkewicz turned a Hilbert cross past his own keeper to increase the Stuttgart lead to three goals. With the match all over bar the shouting, Bayer's winter signing, Angelos Charisteas, reduced the deficit to 2-4, but the points were already in the bag for Markus Babbel's team.