Stuttgart beats Rangers 2-0 in Champions League

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP)—Stuttgart shrugged off its Bundesliga woes by beating Rangers 2-0 on Tuesday to stay in contention for a place in the last 16 of the Champions League and eliminate the Scottish club from the competition.

Teenager Sebastian Rudy scored on his first Champions League start and crossed for Zdravko Kuzmanovic to head another in the second half as Stuttgart maintained a chance of finishing in the top two in Group G.

“The team played very well, we were the better team and we created many chances,” said Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel. “We played with heart and aggression and did a very good job.

“Now we have a big chance at home against (Unirea) Urziceni. … We will try everything.”

The loss was Rangers third at home and means it will finish last in the group and miss out on the consolation of a spot in the Europa League.

“We had to go for the win and we were left in a situation where we leave ourselves open and we were not able to handle that in the three home games that we played,” said Rangers manager Walter Smith.

“We don’t deserve it. If we play three games at home and we don’t take a point then we don’t deserve to progress.”

This was a meeting of two teams who had failed to win at home in Group G play and that record was maintained.

Despite being top of the Scottish Premier League, Rangers lost 4-1 at home to both Sevilla and Romanian club Unirea while Stuttgart, which captured 1-1 draws away to the Spanish and Romanian clubs, had not won in 10 games and lies in the relegation zone in the Bundesliga.

For almost the entire game it appeared those league positions were reversed as Stuttgart took control early at Ibrox Park.

Cacau, a Brazil-born striker who plays for Germany, turned a defender and fired a powerful 18-meter drive which goalkeeper Allan McGregor fisted away before Stuttgart, playing inventive football, belied its poor domestic form by going ahead in the 16th minute.

Alexandre Hleb swapped passes with Cacau on the left and Rudy turned home the Belarussian’s cross with a sliding shot.

Stuttgart had the ball in the net again two minutes later but Kuzmanovic’s long range free kick was ruled out because Matthieu Delpierre was offside in front of goal.

Rangers should have equalized in the 37th minute when Kenny Miller found Kris Boyd with a rightwing cross but the striker headed tamely over the bar.

But Stuttgart moved further ahead in the 60th minute when Kuzmanovic was left unmarked to meet Rudy’s cross from the right to head powerfully home.

It would have been worse for Rangers a minute later but McGregor made a double save from Cacau followed by Pavel Pogrebniak, who later hit the post. McGregor made three more top quality saves to prevent Rangers being embarrassed.