Stuttgart progressed into the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Unirea.
Romanians settle for Europa League place
Stuttgart stunned Unirea Urziceni with three goals in the opening 11 minutes to secure a 3-1 win and a place in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Unirea needed just a point to go through and could have finished top had Rangers beaten leaders Sevilla in Spain, but they saw their qualification hopes go up in smoke in the first half.
The home side needed all three points to qualify and they made a flying start under the watchful eye of new manager Christian Gross.
Goals from Ciprian Marica, Christian Traesch and Pavel Pogrebnyak effectively ended the tie before it had begun.
Dan Petrescu's side fought back in the second half and reduced the deficit through Antonio Semedo, but the Germans held on to progress from Group G in second place.
Inspired
The Bavarian side have been struggling on the domestic front and went into the match lacking confidence and without a win their last nine Bundesliga outings.
The poor form had cost former manager Markus Babbel his job and left the Germans languishing in the relegation places.
But Gross, in his first game in charge, inspired a rousing response from his new charges as they took apart the Romanians.
Unirea had taken the Champions League by surprise after being labelled as group whipping boys, defying their reputation to go into the last round of matches needing just a point to qualify.
They had suffered just one defeat in five matches prior to the trip to Germany, a 2-0 defeat to group leaders Sevilla, although it counted for little in the end.
The home side took the game to Unirea from the outset, knowing only a win would do.
Confidence has been low at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, yet it did not show as the hosts made a blinding start to find themselves three goals up after 11 minutes.
Ciprian Marica gave them the perfect start and broke the hearts of his Romanian countrymen by heading Stuttgart into the lead, the striker rising high to nod home Sami Khedira's sublime right-wing cross after just five minutes.
Unirea nearly equalised when Marius Ioan Bilasco caught the home defence napping, the striker nipping in behind the defence to force a diving save from Jens Lehmann.
From the resulting corner Unirea piled forward looking for an immediate response, but they were made to pay the ultimate price as they fell further behind.
Bewildered
Stuttgart cleared the ball and broke with Arthur Boka carrying the ball unchallenged into the visitors half.
He slipped a pass into Christian Traesch, who completed the swift move with a deflected shot that nestled into the bottom corner to double the advantage.
The home crowd were on their feet again after 11 minutes, Pavel Pogrebnyak showing a clean pair of heels to beat his man and slot under goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis.
Three goals up and Stuttgart were in cruise control, leaving Petrescu looking bewildered on the touchlines.
Gross was eager for his side to add to the healthy lead and the onslaught continued, Khedira opening up his body to curl just wide of the post.
The tie was all but over for Unirea, yet they continued to fight and tried in vain to find a way back into the match.
And the visitors managed to pull a goal back early in the second half, Semedo's well-taken goal giving the visitors renewed hope of snatching a draw.
Stuttgart held firm and the Romanian champions struggled to keep hold of the ball as their counterparts gave them a football lesson, passing the ball with pace and purpose.
They were unable to resurrect their Champions League dreams though, and tumbled into the Europa League by finishing third in the group, ahead of Rangers.
| VfB Stuttgart |
Team Statistics |
Unirea Urziceni |
| 3 |
Goals |
1 |
| 3 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 6 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 9 |
Shots off Target |
7 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 6 |
Corners |
3 |
| 24 |
Fouls |
14 |
| 0 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 78.9 |
Passing Success |
68.7 |
| 17 |
Tackles |
22 |
| 64.7 |
Tackles Success |
68.2 |
| 57.2 |
Possession |
42.8 |
| 50.7 |
Territorial Advantage |
49.3 |
|
