AE Sports

Bayern Made to Fight for Points By Stuttgart

Bayern were hardly threatened by Stuttgart but were made to work hard for their second win from three Bundesliga games.

Xabi Alonso made his home debut after moving from Real Madrid last month and it was the Spaniard’s free-kick that led to the opening goal.

Mario Götze stopped Antonio Rüdiger’s attempted clearance, cut inside Vedad Ibisevic and shot through a host of players inside the far post.

The Bayern defender Holger Badstuber, who recently returned after missing 20 months with a knee injury and two operations, had to go off before the break with a thigh muscle problem.

His replacement, the 17-year-old Gianluca Guadino, skipped past a host of Stuttgart defenders to create a good chance for David Alaba on the hour, only for the Austrian to fire over.

Franck Ribéry made a near-immediate impact after coming on as a substitute in the 68th minute. Four minutes after entering he set up a deflected Alonso effort that came off the post and Robert Lewandowski struck the post again from the rebound.

Lewandowski set up Ribéry to seal the result with a low shot through the Stuttgart goalkeeper’s legs.