Alexander Nübel lives out a nightmare in his latest Bayern Munich audition | Andy Brassell

Last Thursday FC Bayern celebrated 125 years of existence. When the team travelled to Stuttgart for the opening game of the Bundesliga the following night their travelling fans unfurled a glittering red tifo, composed of “27. Februar 1900” – the club’s birthdate – and the original club badge.

Despite the sense of ceremony, which will continue with a series of commemorative events in the weeks to come, and the plethora of connections they share with Stuttgart, Bayern could not have expected quite the number of presents that came their way from the hosts. Stuttgart had been “clearly the better team in the first half-hour,” as Vincent Kompany put it. It was their best performance in weeks and yet it counted for nothing as they took a pistol to their collective foot in the second half. Less than a month ago, Sebastian Hoeness – just to remind, nephew of Uli and son of Dieter - and his side were just a solitary point from fourth place and six ahead of Borussia Dortmund after winning at Signal Iduna Park. Today, they are five adrift of the Champions League places and just a point ahead of Dortmund, everybody’s favourite Bundesliga crisis club.

Hoeness junior must be tearing his hair out. He sent his side out as he always does no matter the opposition, to dictate and to dominate. They took a deserved lead from an artful finish by (ex-Bayern) Angelo Stiller, earlier this week linked with a return to his hometown club to replace (ex-Stuttgart youth teamer) Joshua Kimmich, after Bayern withdrew their latest contract renewal offer to the latter. Even after Michael Olise equalised on the stroke of half-time, played through a home defence positioned in a cavalier line bearing in mind the time and state of the game by a Leroy Sané pass, Stuttgart were still in it.

At least the very least, they were going to make Bayern work for it – until midway through the second half, when goalkeeper Alexander Nübel played the ball into Stiller on the edge of the Stuttgart penalty area, the pressing Leon Goretzka robbed his midfield counterpart and then rifled in to put the leaders in front. The goal that clinched it was another self-inflicted wound, with Josha Vagnoman stumbling on the ball on halfway, allowing Kingsley Coman to take it from him, round Nübel and stroke home.

At the centre of it all was Nübel, in an unusual situation even for a player taking the field against his parent club. This summer will mark five years since the 28-year-old signed for Bayern. In that time he has played one Bundesliga game for the club (the penultimate game of 2020/21 with the title long since in the bag), spent two years on loan at Monaco and is now in his second campaign of a long-term temporary assignment to Stuttgart. Nübel initially signed for one season with them, but after last season’s wildly successful campaign in which they finished runners-up – ahead of Bayern – all parties agreed to extend the loan to 2026, with the goalkeeper renewing his contract with Bayern to 2029.

It has been a case study in kicking the can down the road. When Nübel joined Bayern from Schalke in 2020 (signing a pre-contract six months before to the displeasure of a vociferous section of the latter’s fans, in echoes had been through two years before) it was with an eventual Manuel Neuer succession in mind, with ‘eventual’ being the key word here. Ostensibly he has ticked off all the suitable stops on the road there since; as a starter for a title-chasing team in Ligue 1, becoming first-choice for a Bundesliga team, competing in the Champions League and even making his full Germany debut last autumn.

Not much blame for Nübel here as the brilliant Michael Olise scores Bayern’s equaliser. Photograph: Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

There has always been a suspicion, though, that maybe he’s not quite the one. Neuer – who of course made his own contested switch from Gelsenkirchen to Munich – is a formidable pair of gloves to supplant but his form and fitness has had its fluctuations in recent years, and when he badly broke his leg in a skiing accident after Germany’s World Cup exit in 2022, his future looked far from clear. He has come back well since but he will be 39 at the end of the month. There have been moments when Bayern could have placed their faith in Nübel but they just haven’t. Last summer’s contract extension felt more about protecting an investment than locking down Neuer’s heir.

And Friday night suggested why. Stiller shouldn’t be carrying the can for Goretzka’s goal; he was facing Nübel, who could see the Bayern number eight coming but still passed the ball to his retreating colleague, inexplicably. “In that situation, it makes more sense if I hit the ball long,” he admitted afterwards. Then later Vagnoman’s mishap was developed from dangerous fatal by Nübel’s rush from his goal, making up Coman’s mind to round him and shoot. It didn’t decide the game, of course, but it was still the sort of mistake that would require days of inquest were it made in a Bayern shirt. Even celebrity fan Boris Becker felt moved to comment on how “unsecure” Nübel seemed when commenting on X (the goalkeeper amiably said he would “still like a photo with him”).

It was ultimately costly for Stuttgart, who have every chance of making the Champions League despite a vastly increased workload and some key personnel losses. This difference is that slips like Nübel’s are an irritant in Swabia when they would be considered a catastrophe in Bavaria.

Talking points

• Elsewhere Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has stirred the pot ahead of Bayern’s Champions League meeting with Leverkusen, reiterating in an interview with Abendzeitung that Florian Wirtz ”is the best player in Germany, and I make no secret of the fact that our clear goal must be to sign (him),” much to the annoyance of the champions’ sporting director Simon Rolfes. On the pitch Leverkusen responded in perfect fashion, though, keeping their sang froid to win 4-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt after what Xabi Alonso described as “maybe our best first half of the season.”

• Yet Eintracht remain third because those behind them continue to slip and slide. Leipzig took the lead after 58 seconds against Mainz via Xavi Simons but the visitors now sit in the final Champions League spot after a quite exceptional second half in which Nadiem Amiri and Jonathan Burkhardt both scored to turn the game around. They also both hit the woodwork. With Marco Rose’s team, Borussia Dortmund and the usual suspects all floundering, Mainz and their brilliant coach Bo Henriksen have a unique opportunity.

• In such an open Champions League race Dortmund, improbably, remain in contention, only six points behind fourth after a second straight win, 2-0 at St Pauli. It was also a third consecutive clean sheet under Niko Kovač, even if their defending wasn’t always convincing against largely impotent opponents. Nobody at BVB wants to talk about turned corners after a season full of false dawns. The two-legged tie against Lille, however, once again offers a Champions League chance.

• Finally Holstein Kiel are off the bottom after a first-ever top-flight away win at Union Berlin. A rewards for their bravery, perhaps; despite their struggles.