While neither team scored when Bayern visited Stuttgart in the Hinrunde, the Bayern-Stuttgart matches of the past few years have given us a few memorable goals. Bayern Offside readers chose Franck Ribery’s 2008 long distance screecher vs Stuttgart as the Bayern Goal of the Decade.
A year earlier, when the teams met in Stuttgart, it was a true battle of titans. Stuttgart, then the defending champions of the league, against Bayern, who bristled with confidence and carried a 12 match unbeaten streak into that one. Stuttgart chopped Bayern down 3:1 that day, a rare blemish on a terrific season in the league, so the match may now be better remembered for the oddity of Mario Gomez’s opening goal..
It’s all the more entertaining that every box score I find of that match calls the goal a Kopfball. Ludovic Magnin was credited with the assist, but as everyone can see, it was John Thomas that really made the play happen.