Bayern Munich: Serge Gnabry hattrick sinks VfB Stuttgart
Bayern Munich went nine points clear in the Bundesliga on Tuesday after an emphatic 5-0 victory away at VfB Stuttgart. Serge Gnabry was the main star for the visitors as the German winger grabbed a hattrick and managed to get two assists to his name in this game. Robert Lewandowski also ended his mini-goal drought by scoring a brace.
Julian Nagelsman made three changes to the team that clinched a narrow win against Mainz on the weekend. Marc Roca replaced injured Corentin Tolisso, while Niklas Sule started in central defense at the expense of Dayot Upamecano. Gnabry was handed a start to give much-needed rest to Leroy Sane. Jamal Musiala was able to start the game despite an injury to his hand.
Die Roten started the game calmly, dominating the possession and creating a few half chances. As the game went on, the visiting side started piling pressure on Stuttgart’s defense. The homes side had ten men behind the ball for the majority of the half and showed very little interest in pressing Bayern higher up the pitch.
The breakthrough for the defending champions eventually came in the 40th minute. After picking up the ball in the center of the pitch, Sane carried it until the final third and slipped it to Serge Gnabry on the left flank. Gnabry did the rest by curling it past the goalkeeper to score his seventh league goal of the season. Stuttgart had a very good chance to find the equalizer before halftime, but Philipp Forster couldn’t muster a shot on target after going past players for fun.
The home side started the second half with more purpose. They were pressing higher up the pitch and causing Rekordmeister all sorts of problems. Stuttgart had close chances to find the equalizer, but poor finishing let them down.
Die Roten managed to see out this brief pressure from the home side and score the much-needed second goal. A neat clever pass from Thomas Muller released Gnabry on the right flank. The German winger once again showed great composure to curl the ball past the goalkeeper to set up the victory.
After the second goal from visitors, Stuttgart looked devoid of ideas to mount a comeback. Robert Lewandowski scored two goals in quick succession to seal the victory. Gnabry was the architect of these two goals as he showed great composure to spot Lewandowski’s runs in the box for both goals.
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The German winger rounded off a fantastic evening by scoring his third and team’s fifth goal in the 74th minute. Serge Gnabry was in the right place at the right time to capitalize on the error from Florian Muller. Die Roten could have scored more as Lewandowski smashed the post late in the game. It was a much-needed big win in the Bundesliga for Die Roten, but most importantly, they managed to keep a clean sheet in the league after two weeks.