VfB Stuttgart

1-0	Cacau	(37. Min)
2-0	Harnik	(56. Min)
3-0	Okazaki	(89. Min)

FC Schalke 04

3-0(1-0)

	Referee	Attendance
	Wolfgang Stark (Ergolding)	60000

	Lineups
	1Sven Ulreich	1Ralf Fährmann
	3Cristian Molinaro	4Benedikt Höwedes
	4William Kvist	7 Raul
	5Serdar Tasci	10Lewis Holtby
	7Martin Harnik	11Alexander Baumjohann
	8Zdravko Kuzmanovic	12Marco Höger
	14 Maza	13Jermaine Jones
	18 Cacau	14Kyriakos Papadopoulos
	20Christian Gentner	23Christian Fuchs
	21Khalid Boulahrouz	25Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
	28Tamas Hajnal	32Joel Matip

	Goals
	1-0 Cacau	37. Min
	2-0Martin Harnik	56. Min
	3-0Shinji Okazaki	89. Min

Substitutions
	46. Min	32Matip 31Draxler
	65. Min	10Holtby 9Edu
	68. Min	11Baumjohann 16Moravek
7Harnik 16Traore	73. Min
28Hajnal 31Okazaki	79. Min
18Cacau 29Pogrebnyak	85. Min

	Cards
	Christian Gentner	9. Min
		64. Min	Kyriakos Papadopoulos

	Coach
	Bruno Labbadia	Ralf Rangnick

Stats

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Successful start in the new arena

In the first Bundesliga game at the new Mercedes-Benz Arena, VfB ran out convincing 3-0 winners. On a unique day in the club’s history, Cacau, Martin Harnik and Shinji Okazaki were on target to secure the points for the home side. Trainer Bruno Labbadia opted to include new signings William Kvist and Maza in his starting eleven, with Cacau covering for Matthieu Delpierre as team captain.

The game began cautiously, with both sides avoiding the temptation to be over adventurous. Early on, Schalke keeper Ralf Fährmann had to be alert to prevent first Martin Harnik and then Cacau from opening the scoring. At the other end, Christian Fuchs brought a save from Sven Ulreich and soon after, Kyriakos Papadopoulos out a header just wide of the VfB post, but, with half-time fast approaching, Cacau got the new arena rocking. From a Hajnal corner, Maza rose to head towards goal and Cacau flicked the ball on past the keeper and into the back of the net – 1-0 (37’), a lead which VfB would take into the break.

Slideshow

VfB Stuttgart - FC Schalke 04

VfB clinical in front of goal

The second period began with just as much tempo as the first had finished. Julian Draxler tested Ulreich with a drive from 17 meters out, whilst at the opposite end, Fährmann had to be at his best to deny Khalid Boulahrouz, who had suddenly found himself with only the keeper to beat. Then, in the 56th minute, Hajnal sent Cristian Molinaro on his way down the left wing and the Italian swung in a perfectly weighted delivery for Martin Harnik to stoop in and head VfB into a 2-0 lead.

Bruno Labbadia: "Today was a very special day for VfB."
Post match commnets

Sven Ulreich was then called into action and did commendably to deny Jones, Huntelaar and twice substitute Jan Moravek, but the home side weathered the storm and with a minute to go, substitute Shinji Okazaki put the icing on the cake for VfB, expertly taking on a cross-field pass before hammering a shot unstoppably past Fährmann to complete the scoring in a deserved 3-0 win and perfect opener for the new Mercedes-Benz Arena.