“Often they drop off a bit”: Bayern Munich’s Aleksandar Pavlovic takes a swipe at VfB Stuttgart – Deniz Undav delivers a blunt verdict

After Bayern Munich’s 5-1 win at the start of the Bundesliga season, Aleksandar Pavlovic delivered a surprisingly blunt swipe at VfB Stuttgart.

"We gave everything from the start. It is often the case against Stuttgart that they fade a little in the middle of the second half and no longer have quite as much energy. That was the case again today. And we just keep going, never stop and always score our goals," Pavlovic told Sky immediately after the final whistle.

After VfB Stuttgart made a very brave start and held their own for the opening 15 minutes, Bayern took control and went ahead in the 21st minute through Dayot Upamecano. Stuttgart then hit back surprisingly at the start of the second half through Josha Vagnoman (52), but the champions responded at once and were quickly 3-1 up after a goal from Michael Olise (55) and an own goal by Vagnoman (58). Late on, Pavlovic (82) and Luis Diaz (90+2) added the gloss to make it 5-1.

Meanwhile, Stuttgart's new captain Deniz Undav was brutally honest: "If Fabi (Bredlow, VfB goalkeeper, editor's note) had not had such an outstanding day today, you would have conceded eight or nine here. They play out their chances right to the end, while we had four or five situations from which chances could have arisen, but in which we made the wrong decisions," said Undav. The two matches against Bayern are "bonus games in the season. Unfortunately, it became so clear-cut," lamented the Germany international striker.

Curious situation for VfB Stuttgart at half-time

At half-time, Stuttgart also had to deal with a curious situation as apparently "the lights went out", probably because of a power cut, as VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß confirmed to Sky after the game.

Hoeneß said: "There was no more light, but it was still bright enough, we could still see each other, we did not trip over. So everything was fine." From a sporting perspective, he added: "We have to improve, no question. Bayern will still beat many other teams here, probably by an even bigger margin than us, but we still have to have the ambition to play better."