Three things that stood out at Bayer Leverkusen against VfB Stuttgart: Bayern dusel? Bayer Dusel!

“Take off Bayern’s Lederhosen,” was the loud message that rang through the BayArena on Tuesday evening, while Xabi Alonso’s men hugged each other enthusiastically on the pitch.

The Swabians had taken the lead twice thanks to goals from Waldemar Anton (12th) and Chris Führich (59th), but Robert Andrich (51st) and substitute Amine Adli (67th) brought the Bundesliga leaders back before Tah ensured the late decision with his header.

Three things that caught our eye during the cup thriller between Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart.

Tah shouted his joy and the otherwise rather reserved gentleman Xabi Alonso also threw his fist twice towards the home stand. Bayer Leverkusen has done it again.

The Werkself remained unbeaten against VfB Stuttgart in their 30th competitive game of the season. The last defeat was on May 27th of the previous year (0:3 against VfL Bochum). They are downright absurd numbers.

As so often this season, Leverkusen had the right answer to all setbacks on Tuesday. Stuttgart took the lead twice (Anton 12th, Führich 59th) and had legitimate hopes of progressing.

However, the home side kept coming back in the style of a real champion (Andrich 51′, Adli 67′) and were ultimately rewarded with the late winning goal from Tah, who headed in a buttery cross from Florian Wirtz (90′). “We definitely believed in it and even scored one or two goals in the last minute,” Andrich explained on “ARD” afterwards.

However, due to the second half, the success was anything but dull. After a rather poor start, Leverkusen found their way into the game better and better as the game went on. In the second half, Bayer seemed to have thrown off all the shackles and increasingly restricted the increasingly tired Stuttgart team – with success.

“In games like this you have to have the will and the fighting spirit, that’s what I tried to do and somehow managed to do, and so did we as a team,” explained Tah. It may be a trite phrase, but that’s ultimately how you win titles.

Stuttgart’s captain Waldemar Anton constantly talked to his teammates – but it didn’t help.

“It hurts enormously to score a goal in the last minute. Unfortunately, we made simple mistakes that led to goals conceded against such a top team. That shouldn’t happen,” said the central defender after the bitter 2-3 defeat.

It was Anton himself who put the Swabians on course for the cup semi-finals early on. After a corner from Angelo Stiller in the opposing penalty area, the 27-year-old energetically prevailed in a duel with Edmond Tapsoba and headed the ball with an arc lamp into the Leverkusen goal to take the lead (12th).

But Anton also showed his qualities on the other side of the pitch. The VfB perennial favorite won a total of 75 percent of his duels and won the ball 17 times (best among all players). “Especially in the first half, he was incredibly present both defensively and offensively. Together with Atakan Karazor, he was the best Stuttgart player today,” enthused “ARD” expert Bastian Schweinsteiger about Anton.

He once again demonstrated his consistently strong performances in Leverkusen this season and did not go unnoticed by DFB sports director Rudi Völler. There are “some Stuttgart players who are very interesting for the national team,” he said at half-time and added meaningfully: “There will be some, that’s my feeling, at the next international matches.”

Bundesliga leaders against the third-placed team, the best first half team in history against the surprise team or the “early cup final” – the expectations before the quarter-finals between Leverkusen and Stuttgart were not exactly low. And the game should deliver what it promised.

The first half already had a high entertainment value due to its intensity. In the second 45 minutes, events really accelerated. Andrich’s dream goal to make it 1-1 was followed a few minutes later by Führich’s renewed VfB lead, which Adli countered in turn.

Like two heavyweight boxers in a world championship fight, they watched each other and threw punches until one of the two teams was able to land the decisive knockout – in this case Leverkusen.

“It was a very tough fight. If you lead twice in Leverkusen, you have to bring it home,” complained Undav, who, however, showed respect to his opponent: “Hats off to Leverkusen. I think they are the two best teams in the league played against each other.”

A very bold statement, but it is not a coincidence. It has actually been a long time since two teams not called Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund met on a national level at “such a high level” (Scheinsteiger’s quote).

Although it ultimately came to nothing for Stuttgart with the second cup semi-final in a row, the Swabians impressively demonstrated that – contrary to some experts’ opinions – they are stable enough to stay in the top group of the Bundesliga.

“We are very happy that we are through today against a very good Stuttgart team. You have to pay a compliment,” praised Andrich.

After all, despite the defeat, VfB also contributed its part to this football festival.