Important three points

Match summary

Fans at a sold-out MHP Arena were treated to a high-octane contest on Friday evening. The unbeaten visitors initially pressed VfB high up the pitch in a fast start to the game, but Sebastian Hoeneß’s charges gradually began to assert their authority as the first half progressed.

Stiller denied from the spot

The home side were awarded a penalty in the 25^th minute after a foul on Tiago Tomas inside the box, but Nikola Vasilj dived low to his left to keep out Angelo Stiller’s effort.

A magnificent Jamie Leweling pass gave Stiller another opportunity inside the area just four minutes later, only for the VfB midfielder to be denied yet again by St. Pauli goalkeeper Vasilj.

Demirovic breaks deadlock

Stuttgart were finally rewarded for their superiority in the 43^rd minute, when Ermedin Demirovic collected another Leweling pass before brilliantly shrugging off two defenders and finding the net to give VfB a thoroughly deserved 1-0 lead.

El Khannouss makes it two

The hosts hit the ground running in the second half, doubling their advantage through Bilal El Khannouss’ confident finish five minutes after the restart. VfB were fortunate not to concede when Louis Oppie struck the crossbar two minutes later, while Alex Nübel did well to save a Mathias Pereira Lage effort not long after that.

Sixty seconds later, a flowing VfB counter-attack ended with Vasilj pulling off another fine stop to deny Demirovic and prevent Hoeneß’s side from going 3-0 up. In an eventful end to the contest, Nübel preserved VfB’s two-goal cushion with a smart save from Oladapo Afolayan, before Vasilj parried Lorenz Assignon’s goal-bound drive out of harm’s way.

Goals

43^rd minute: Leweling picks out Demirovic, who gets the better of two St. Pauli defenders before lifting the ball over onrushing goalkeeper Vasilj.

50^th minute: Demirovic brilliantly lays the ball off to El Khannouss, who steers a low shot into the bottom right corner.