From the ashes of Marco Rose’s three-year reign, the Red Bulls were looking for an instant pick-me-up under interim head coach Zsolt Low, but the early signs were ominous when the home side took the lead inside a dominant opening 10 minutes.
Despite the initial corner being dealt with by the visitors’ defence, the headed clearance only looped straight to Angelo Stiller, who rifled an unstoppable volley beyond Maarten Vandevoordt from the edge of the box.
Minutes later, Ermedin Demirovic was denied by Alexander Nubel, in what would prove to be the peak of Stuttgart’s dominance, as very soon it would be the goal at the other end that was under bombardment.
As the away side grew into the game, Nübel soon made himself the star of the show with a string of excellent saves, as the on-loan goalkeeper denied Lois Openda three times to keep his team in the lead.
Nubel made two stops in three minutes to deny the Belgian striker on the quarter-hour mark, but his best save came midway through the first half when he tipped away a goal-bound Openda shot at full stretch.
An uneventful opening to the second half was abruptly interrupted by an excellent move by Stuttgart that led to their second goal.
Seizing on sloppy play from their opponent, Nick Woltemade and Demirovic combined, with the Bosnia and Herzegovina striker, playing a sublime no-look pass to allow Woltemade to place his finish into the bottom corner.
Under the gaze of their head of global soccer, Jurgen Klopp, Leipzig bounced back immediately, as Stuttgart failed to clear a corner properly and Benjamin Sesko poked home from close range.
Hope was far from eternal for the men from Saxony, and it lasted just 11 minutes as Jamie Leweling scrambled home a third Stuttgart goal from a corner to seal Die Roten’s place in the final.
Sebastian Hoenell’s men will be strong favourites in the final as they face an Arminia side two divisions below them, but in order to win their first DFB-Pokal in 28 years, they must avoid becoming the fifth top-flight side to fall victim to the minnows from Westphalia.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Alexander Nubel (VfB Stuttgart)