For six fleeting minutes on Friday night, VfB Stuttgart dared to dream. Then the Allianz Arena reminded them exactly whose house they were standing in. Bayern Munich, ruthless when it mattered and merciless when it didn't need to be, put five past the visitors and left them bottom of the Bundesliga, stripped of both points and pretence.

The scoreline flatters no one but the men in red. Dayot Upamecano's early header had given Bayern the lead their first-half dominance deserved, and though Stuttgart briefly hauled themselves level after the break, the response was brutal in its speed and precision. Within five minutes the equaliser had been erased, the game reordered, and the evening turned into a procession.

It is the perfect opening statement from a side that intends to sit atop this division and stay there. Bayern top the table on three points with a goal difference already swollen to plus four, while Stuttgart, punished for their one moment of ambition, sit 18th and pointless. Two teams, ninety minutes, and a gulf laid bare for all to see.

Upamecano Sets The Tone

Bayern took their time to find the opening, but when it came it bore the hallmark of their set-piece menace. On 21 minutes Joshua Kimmich swung in a cross following a corner, and Upamecano rose highest to plant a header from very close range into the bottom right corner. The centre-half, a defender by trade, celebrated like a striker who had been waiting all week for the moment.

It was the reward for a first half in which Bayern had pressed and probed without ever quite breaking through. Kimmich pulled the strings from deep, his delivery the fulcrum around which so much of the home side's threat revolved. Stuttgart, to their credit, held their shape and refused to be overrun, retreating to the interval only a single goal adrift and still very much in the contest.

There was, at half-time, the faint outline of an upset. Bayern had been dominant but not decisive, and a lead of one is the most fragile of cushions. Stuttgart returned for the second period with the belief of a side that sensed the door had not yet been shut.

The Game Turned Inside Out

They kicked it open on 52 minutes. Josha Vagnoman, arriving in the centre of the box, drilled a right-footed shot into the high centre of the goal to level the tie and silence the arena. For three glorious minutes Stuttgart were level with the champions in their own fortress, the improbable suddenly within touching distance.

Bayern's answer was immediate and devastating. On 55 minutes Kimmich threaded a through ball into the path of Michael Olise, who took a touch and rifled a left-footed finish into the bottom left corner. The lead was restored before Stuttgart could even draw breath, and the psychological blow was crushing.

Two minutes later it became a nightmare. Vagnoman, the man who had hauled his side level, turned the ball into his own net, and in the space of five minutes he had scored at both ends and watched a 1-1 draw become a 3-1 deficit. The equaliser and everything it promised had been swept away, and with it any lingering hope the visitors carried.

No Mercy At The Death

From there Bayern simply toyed with their guests, the contest settled and the only question the eventual margin. Ismael Saibari, a menace in the final third, turned provider twice as the hosts hunted more. On 82 minutes his pass found Aleksandar Pavlovic, who steered a right-footed shot into the centre of the goal to make it four and end whatever resistance remained.

There was still time for a fifth, and it arrived in stoppage time. Saibari again picked out the run, and Luis Díaz swept a right-footed finish into the bottom left corner in the 90th minute plus two. It was the flourish on a performance that had grown more emphatic with every passing minute, a final act of a side unwilling to ease off even with the points long secured.

For Stuttgart it was a chastening lesson in the difference between competing and prevailing. They had matched Bayern for stretches, even led the exchanges in that fleeting second-half spell, and were still handed a four-goal beating. The margin will sting far longer than the memory of that brief equaliser.

What Lies Ahead

Bayern march on as the early pacesetters, top of the Bundesliga with a maximum haul and a goal difference that already speaks of intent. There will be sterner tests than this, but the manner of the victory — the composure after conceding, the speed of the retribution, the refusal to relent — is precisely the profile of a champion. When the equaliser came, they did not flinch; they retaliated, and then some.

For Stuttgart the road looks steep from the very first stride. Rooted to the bottom of the table on nought points, with five conceded and only Vagnoman's strike to show at the other end, they must rebuild belief quickly before the fixtures pile up. A season is not lost in August, but confidence is a currency easily spent, and Friday night drained plenty of it.

The lasting image, though, belongs to the home side. Kimmich orchestrating, Upamecano heading them ahead, Olise turning the screw, Saibari conjuring two goals from nowhere, and Díaz applying the coup de grâce in the dying seconds. This was Bayern Munich flexing their considerable muscle, and the rest of the division will have taken note.