Bundesliga 2 matchday 8 kicked off on Friday evening with a clash of two top teams as third-placed DSC Arminia Bielefeld welcomed league leaders VfB Stuttgart at the SchücoArena. The highly entertaining encounter ended in a 1-0 win for Stuttgart as Hamadi Al Ghaddioui found the back of the net in injury time.

Both sides went into the match with an unbeaten track record in the ongoing 2019/20 season. Bielefeld won four and drawn three of their league matches, while the visitors had five wins and two draws to their tally.

Arminia Bielefeld head coach Uwe Neuhaus expected a lively and closely contested affair, while knowing that his side had to put up an excellent performance at the backline against a strong Stuttgart team led by experienced Bundesliga players such as Holger Badstuber and Daniel Didavi.

The match turned out to be the expected competitive floodlight encounter, while the visitors had a few attempts on target in the first 30 minutes of the game through Orel Mangala and Santiago Ascacibar.

Bielefeld had their chances in the later stages of the first half. Florian Hartherz hit the woodwork with a powerful left-footed shot, while Fabian Klos’ header was saved on the goal line.

Both sides went into the breather with a 0-0 draw which promised an intense second half.

The game had its crunch point when Bielefeld captain Fabian Klos was sent off with a second yellow card in the 61st minute. The home side switched to a 4-4-1 system to keep their defensive line stable and managed to close down the gaps successfully.

Stuttgart brought on Mario Gomez as a late substitute and it looked like the move paid off when the former Germany international scored a goal in the 79th minute. But Stuttgart’s celebrations didn’t last long as the VAR correctly recognised a close offside position by the Stuttgart striker.

The 26,124 fans at the SchücoArena were all set to settle for a 0-0 draw as both sides put up a spirited performance which would have deserved a point for both.

But the game had its climax in the first minute of injury time. Stuttgart captain Marc Oliver Kemp’s ball into the box found Philipp Förster who laid off to Hamadi Al Ghaddioui. The striker converted the chance from a close range to put the ball past Bielefeld goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.

The late winner keeps Stuttgart at the top of the table with 20 points from eight matches, while Bielefeld remain third with 15 points from the same number of games.

Stuttgart will continue their Bundesliga 2 campaign against SV Wehen Wiesbaden at home next Friday (October 10), while Bielefeld travel to VfL Osnabrück for a derby on Monday, October 7.

DSC Arminia Bielefeld 0-1 VfB Stuttgart

Goals
0-1 Hamadi Al Ghaddioui (90’+1′)

Line-ups

DSC Arminia Bielefeld
Ortega – Brunner (82′ Clauss), Pieper, Nilsson, Hartherz – Prietl, Edmundsson (67′ Schütz), Hartel (90’+1′ Salger) – Soukou, Klos, Voglsammer

VfB Stuttgart
Kobel – P. Stenzel, M. O. Kempf, Badstuber, Insua (73′ Sosa) – Karazor, Mangala (90’+2′ Massimo), Ascacibar – Didavi (68′ Mar. Gomez) – Al Ghaddioui, Förster

Match Officials

Referee
Timo Gerach

Assistant Referee
Timo Klein, Lothar Ostheime

Fourth Officals
Patrick Kessel

Video Assistant Referee
Dr. Martin Thomsen, Markus Wollenweber