Mario Gotze has scored the only goal of a tight first half to earn Bayern Munich a 1-0 lead over Stuttgart.

Bayern dominated possession throughout the first half as expected, but found it difficult to create chances early on as Stuttgart kept players behind the ball impressively.

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The first clear opportunity of the match fell to Thomas Muller as he found space to head at goal, but Sven Ulreich tipped the ball away just moments after denying Mario Gotze.

It was Gotze who broke the deadlock in the 28th minute as he took advantage of some poor Stuttgart defending to fire home a loose ball in the box.

Stuttgart responded impressively, but it was Bayern who finished a first half with very few chances ahead at the Allianz Arena.