The Neckarstadion held more than seventy thousand people, and none had come to confirm a Munich fairytale.
Stuttgart stood near the top of the Bundesliga.
Their supporters wanted Bayern’s title chase damaged, Hansi Müller celebrated, and the famous teenager returned to ordinary scale.
Csernai began Alexander on the bench.
The decision irritated broadcasters who had built the week around his first start.
It pleased the manager because public expectation received no vote.
Alexander watched.
Karlheinz Förster defended exactly as film suggested—aggressive within his zone, disciplined about the back line, and willing to hand a dropping forward into midfield rather than chase beyond structural safety.
Stuttgart’s midfield stepped whenever Breitner received facing forward.
Hansi Müller attacked the weak side after Bayern’s left moved inward.
The first twelve minutes confirmed the rehearsal.
Then Stuttgart changed one detail.
Their nearest midfielder delayed the handover, keeping contact with Bayern’s forward longer so Förster could recover to the line.
The space between them narrowed.
Alexander showed Becker.
“The handover is later.”
“Solution?”
“Do not receive inside it.
Play one touch, continue beyond both.”
“If the midfielder tracks?”
“Breitner becomes free.”
Bayern struggled to apply the idea with the starting structure.
Stuttgart’s pressure forced hurried passes.
Hansi Müller carried increasing threat.
The home side scored before half-time.
One-nil.
The stadium shook with the possibility of reopening the title race.
Reports from Hamburg added pressure.
In the dressing room, Csernai moved magnets across the board.
“Their midfield steps with Paul.
The space is here.”
He pointed between Stuttgart’s defensive and midfield lines.
Alexander had marked it after twelve minutes.
“Warm up.”
He entered for the second half.
The crowd whistled every touch before he had one.
Förster met him near halfway.
“Fortuna gave you space.”
“Then you should not.”
“I will not.”
The first duel supported the promise.
Alexander dropped.
Förster approached but stopped before breaking the line.
The midfielder took over.
Alexander used a safe backward pass.
The crowd cheered as though restraint were defeat.
The second duel ended with Förster’s shoulder and a foul.
Alexander rose, registered the defender’s timing, and played the free kick simply.
No attempt to win the match in one action.
On the third, he crossed the handover zone.
Alexander received from Breitner, laid the ball back first time, and continued running.
The midfielder followed one step.
Förster remained with the line.
That single moment left neither fully responsible.
Breitner passed through.
Alexander reached the return in the pocket and turned towards goal.
Förster stepped now.
Rummenigge attacked the space behind him.
Alexander’s pass arrived between two defenders.
Rummenigge finished.
One-one.
The Bayern section erupted inside the larger hostile stadium.
Rummenigge pointed at Alexander while retreating.
Förster did not complain.
He spoke to the midfielder and changed the handover.
Next time, neither followed.
They would concede the turn rather than split responsibility.
Alexander recognised the answer.
Ten minutes later, he dropped into the same area.
No pressure.
He turned.
Twenty metres of grass opened before Stuttgart’s line could step.
Alexander carried forward, keeping Rummenigge and Hoeneß as passing threats.
The goalkeeper’s view passed between defenders for one instant.
Alexander struck low from outside the area.
The ball travelled through the moving screen and entered beside the post.
Two-one.
This celebration lasted seconds.
Stuttgart restarted with urgency.
Hansi Müller moved wider and began attacking the space Csernai had warned about.
Alexander communicated before leaving the left side, but Bayern’s cover arrived late once.
Stuttgart created a shot.
Saved.
Alexander pointed towards the missed assignment and accepted his share.
The next time, he held the width longer, forcing the attack elsewhere.
Bauer noted the correction:
Responds within match to defensive warning.
Stuttgart pressed higher.
The game stretched.
Bayern could protect the lead or seek the third.
Csernai demanded control.
Alexander dropped beside Breitner for several possessions, helping Bayern escape the first pressure.
He did not hunt another goal.
He used touch and positioning to make Stuttgart run backwards.
With seven minutes remaining, Bayern recovered possession near their own area.
Alexander moved left.
Two players followed—Förster from inside and the recovering full-back outside.
He could carry towards the corner and consume time.
He saw Hoeneß beginning between defenders.
Alexander crossed early with his left foot before Stuttgart’s line set.
Hoeneß rose.
Header.
Three-one.
The score matched the victory history had once assigned Bayern without Alexander.
The method did not.
History had not contained the handover duel, the long shot, or number sixteen’s early cross.
Future knowledge supplied no fixed script because his presence had rewritten the route.
At the whistle, Förster approached and exchanged shirts.
“How old are you really?”
“Seventeen.”
The defender shook his head.
“Next time, I follow the return.”
“Then someone else turns.”
Förster almost smiled.
“I know.”
Bauer met Csernai afterwards.
“Longer sample.
Prepared defender.
Hostile ground.”
“You have eyes.”
“Derwall will invite him.”
“Tell Derwall the boy still needs conditioning.”
Alexander completed medical review without symptoms.
Perfect Recovery had kept his late movement sharp, but forty-five senior minutes produced honest fatigue.
The system displayed no point reward.
He examined the absence and understood the rule.
Routine league victories after the debut did not automatically generate prestige points.
The first match had paid for the historic debut milestone and bundled victory.
Lasting titles, records, and international achievements mattered.
The system could not be farmed by appearing in every strong-team win.
Sports Prestige Balance: 403,084
Alexander approved.
Stuttgart’s real reward was evidence.
The accusation of theatre had become harder to print.
The national invitation was no longer hypothetical.
And Bayern entered the final week with the championship in their hands.
The post-match tunnel supplied another test.
Stuttgart reporters asked Förster whether Alexander’s performance had been exaggerated.
“No,” the defender said.
“He gives you one problem, waits for your answer, and uses the answer.”
The quote carried more weight than Bayern praise.
An opponent had prepared, competed, and still described the ability as real.
Bauer spoke to Alexander after the medical check.
“The federation may ask you to report after the league season.”
“Csernai told me assessment was possible.”
“I understand.”
“What position would you claim?”
“Whichever role improves the players already chosen.”
“That sounds evasive.”
“Second striker, either wing, or attacking midfield.
But a twenty-two-player squad values combinations more than labels.”
Bauer wrote the answer mentally.
“You studied tournament selection?”
“I study football.”
The scout changed the subject.
“Why did you pass backwards in the first duel?”
“Förster retained the line.
Turning would have attacked his strongest position.
I needed the handover to move first.”
“And when neither followed?”
“I turned.”
The simplicity after detailed reasoning impressed Bauer more than tactical jargon.
At the press conference, Csernai refused to call Alexander a miracle.
“He is a player who trained well, entered well, and made good decisions.”
“Will he start the final match?”
“Training begins Monday.”
“Does Germany need him in Italy?”
“Ask Germany.”
Alexander answered questions beside Rummenigge.
When one reporter tried to frame the victory as number sixteen rescuing Bayern, Alexander redirected.
“Karl-Heinz scored the equaliser.
Dieter secured the third.
Paul controlled the second half.
My actions were part of those goals.”
Rummenigge later said, “You can accept credit.”
“I did.”
“You distributed it quickly.”
“Because they tried to collect the entire match under my name.”
The forward understood.
He had lived through headlines converting team structures into individual myths.
On the bus, Alexander checked the balance once.
Sports Prestige Balance: 403,084
No reward.
The absence protected the system from infinite accumulation through routine excellence.
Prestige would come from the championship if Bayern completed the work.
Stuttgart had provided something points could not purchase: a respected defender publicly confirming that the first match was not a gift.
Derwall received Bauer’s full report that evening.
He replayed the handover movement three times.
Alexander had not defeated Förster through a superior trick.
He had moved across the boundary of responsibility, used the midfielder’s pursuit, and forced an elite defender to choose between following and preserving the line.
That type of solution could transfer to international football.
The low shot mattered less.
International goalkeepers might save it.
The structure preceding it would still create another pass.
Derwall signed the assessment invitation.
“After the final league match,” he told the administrator.
“Deliver it through Bayern.
No public guarantee.”
He placed Alexander’s name beside the twenty-four-player preliminary group.
Twenty-two could travel.
Bonhof’s injury remained unresolved.
Another fringe position remained competitive.
Alexander had not displaced a named player yet.
The national coach wrote one caution beneath the invitation:
Do not allow club form to create automatic tactical authority.
Observe whether he listens before directing established internationals.
Bauer agreed.
At the Stuttgart hotel, Alexander knew only that he had passed the visible test.
He ate recovery food, completed medical review, and thanked Janzon for the full-back observation.
“The early cross worked.”
Janzon shrugged.
“Hoeneß still had to score.”
“That is why it was useful.”
The competitive relationship shifted another degree towards team trust.
That trust mattered beyond one cross.
It would matter again.