The Swabians won 1-0 (0-0) against their direct rivals RB Leipzig on Sunday thanks to striker Deniz Undav. The national striker scored in the 56th minute after a bad mistake by RB goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt. Coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team is fourth in the table, three points ahead of the Saxons.

“Leipzig may be fresher, but we are definitely in the rhythm,” Undav said before the game on DAZN. Hoeneß apparently had the same opinion, the Stuttgart coach only changed his team in two positions compared to the 1:2 in the Europa League on Thursday against Porto: Chris Führich and Luca Jaquez started instead of Nikolas Nartey and Jeff Chabot.

At Leipzig, after the 2-1 win against Augsburg, only Ezechiel Banzuzi replaced Brajan Gruda in the team, which seemed a little more active than the hosts in the first 20 minutes. It was the 42nd competitive game of the season for the Swabians; RB had to play twelve times less.

Baumgartner misses RB leadership miserably

How important both clubs took the game in front of 57,500 spectators was evident throughout much of the first half. There were many midfield duels, little risk and hardly any chances to score. Nevertheless, Leipzig should have taken the lead when Christoph Baumgartner appeared completely free in front of VfB goalkeeper Alexander Nübel in the 33rd minute, but shot the ball clearly over the goal.

The Stuttgart leaders initially remained largely dull. A header from Ermedin Demirovic and an indirect free kick attempt from Jamie Leweling caused at least some danger for RB goalkeeper Vandevoordt.

Vandevoordt makes a serious mistake

After the break the game picked up speed. Nübel quickly directed a header from Nicolas Seiwald from an RB corner onto the post, while Undav tried a powerful shot on the other side. Vandevoordt parried strongly in this situation, but made a serious mistake shortly afterwards. A bad pass from the goalkeeper ended up with Führich, who fed Undav – the rest was a matter of form for the national striker, who easily pushed the ball into the right corner.

Undav, for whom it was his 16th goal of the season, scored in his fifth Bundesliga game in a row and further extended his personal series record. The Leipzig team is in favor of Undav anyway, a little over two years ago he scored his first Bundesliga hat-trick against RB.

Changes don’t help RB either

Leipzig coach Ole Werner reacted to the deficit by bringing in Gruda, who came on for Banzuzi. Later, Xaver Schlager, Johan Bakayoko and Conrad Harder were allowed to take part. After almost 70 minutes, Hoeneß also relied on three fresh players: Maximilian Mittelstädt, Nartey and Tiago Tomàs should help bring the lead to the finish.

Hardly anything came from the Leipzig team, who were generally pale in the second half. The Swabians consistently defended the few RB attacks and earned the three home points with a lot of effort. Leipzig’s only good chance was missed by defender Willi Orban in stoppage time when his header landed on the post of the VfB goal.

The game in the ticker log

Situation: After Round of 16 setback for VfB In the Europa League, the fight for Champions League qualification comes into focus. The competitors in fourth and fifth place are only separated by the goal difference.

Statistics: Stuttgart has already won 14 Bundesliga games – just as many as at the end of last season. RB Leipzig has already exceeded the record of 24/25 with 14 successes (13).

Staff: VfB is likely to rotate personnel again between the Europa League games, with right-back Vagnoman likely to remain out.

Special: It is the duel between the two strongest teams in the Bundesliga. With Yan Diomande, Leipzig has the player who has won the most duels in the league (313 duels).