Stuttgart hold Barcelona to 1-1 draw in Germany
German club VfB Stuttgart held reigning European champions Barcelona to a 1-1 draw at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on Tuesday night.
The Round of 16 match was a hard-fought encounter in which the Germans gave their Spanish counterparts few chances but were unable to complete what could have been a famous victory.
Fresh from a four-goal haul against FC Cologne on the weekend, Brazilian striker Cacau opened the scoring when he powered home a header in the 25th minute to give Stuttgart a priceless lead.
But the class of Barcelona began to shine through at stages and it took a 52nd minute effort from Zlatan Ibrahimovic to level the scores. Despite pressure from goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, the Swede managed to slot home but required two cracks at it.
It sets up a tantalising second leg to be played on March 17 at Barca’s Nou Camp, where the Spaniards will surely go in as favourites.
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Results & Fixtures
Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat May 5th | |||
| Nürnberg | Bayer Leverkusen | 1 - 4 | 13:30 |
| Hertha BSC | Hoffenheim | 3 - 1 | 13:30 |
| Werder Bremen | Schalke 04 | 2 - 3 | 13:30 |
| Stuttgart | Wolfsburg | 3 - 2 | 13:30 |
| Hannover 96 | Kaiserslautern | 2 - 1 | 13:30 |
| Köln | Bayern München | 1 - 4 | 13:30 |
| Mainz 05 | Borussia M'gladbach | - 3 | 13:30 |
| Augsburg | Hamburger SV | 13:30 | |
| Borussia Dortmund | Freiburg | 13:30 | |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borussia Dortmund | 34 | 25 | 6 | 3 | 55 | 81 |
| Bayern Munchen | 34 | 23 | 4 | 7 | 55 | 73 |
| Schalke 04 | 34 | 20 | 4 | 10 | 30 | 64 |
| Borussia M'gladbach | 34 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 25 | 60 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 54 |
| Stuttgart | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 53 |
| Hannover 96 | 34 | 12 | 12 | 10 | -4 | 48 |
| Wolfsburg | 34 | 13 | 5 | 16 | -13 | 44 |
| Werder Bremen | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | -9 | 42 |
| Nurnberg | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | -11 | 42 |
| Hoffenheim | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | -6 | 41 |
| Freiburg | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | -16 | 40 |
| Mainz 05 | 34 | 9 | 12 | 13 | -4 | 39 |
| Augsburg | 34 | 8 | 14 | 12 | -13 | 38 |
| Hamburger SV | 34 | 8 | 12 | 14 | -22 | 36 |
| Hertha BSC | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | -26 | 31 |
| Koln | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | -36 | 30 |
| Kaiserslautern | 34 | 4 | 11 | 19 | -30 | 23 |
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Comments (2)
There are no words to describe how bad Barca was in 1st half, it was a total disaster. You just cant tolerate display like that. Playmaking and passing didnt make any sense, and movement of ball was awful, how hard can it be? After the break Barca dominated but became too content after 1-1 goal. The ref tolerated home teams suicide tackles and didnt see how Molinaro saved the ball with his hand. Stuttgart played annoying catenaccio but Barca had 1-1 draws also vs Lyon and Bayern in away games a year ago...
Pretty good game, with a little more self-belief the Stuttgart players could have won. Very impressed with Cacau. Barca goal should have been an offside.
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