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.
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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.
