VfB do it the hard way

Compared to his side's last Bundesliga outing against Borussia Dortmund, trainer Armin Veh made four changes to his starting eleven with Ricardo Osorio, Arthur Boka, Sebastian Rudy and birthday boy Ciprian Marica replacing Khalid Boulahrouz (muscle sinew tear), Matthieu Delpierre (fever), Cacau and Ludovic Magnin in a 4-4-2 set up.
Just 10,000 filed into the Mercedes-Benz Arena and they saw VfB start brightly but rather ineffectively. There was no immediate pressure on Armin Veh's side, considering they were in the driving seat having won 2-1 in Bulgaria, and that was clear to see from the lack of real attacking drive early on. The only real save that Varna keeper Karamfil Ilchev had to make was from a left footed effort by Mario Gomez after 18 minutes which he dealt with easily.
The visitors got their first sight of goal after 25 minutes from a corner which resulted in Lazarov getting a shot in but Jens Lehmann had no problems smothering the danger. At the other end, the Cherno More keeper had one more save to make from Mario Gomez before the break but with neither side managing to force a way through, and at half time VfB and Varna went in locked in stalemate.

VfB rescued by late rally

Neither side made any changes during the break but with just two minutes of the second period played, a back-pass by Serdar Tasci caught Jens Lehmann unawares and the keeper's slip allowed Yordan Yurukov through to roll the ball into an empty net - 0-1. Just minutes later, the Bulgarians had a chance to double their lead when Lehmann left his area to meet the ball but failed to clear convincingly but luckily for VfB, Yurukov's resulting shot was deflected over by one of his own teammates. By midway through the second half, there was little action in a game which had become very confined to the midfield. With just eleven minutes to go though there was a major shock for the home team when a

well struck free-kick eluded everyone in the area and the ball found its way into the top of the net - 0-2. VfB were now under serious pressure but the answer was prompt. A Sebastian Rudy corner was knocked on to Thomas Hitzlsperger and the German international hammered home to even up the aggregate score.
With extra time looking a certainty another VfB corner would decide the tie. Mario Gomez rose to meet the delivery and landed a looping header which left the keeper no chance to level the score at 2-2 on the night and guarantee VfB Stuttgart a place in the UEFA Cup group stage - the draw for which will be held on Tuesday, October 7th at 12pm in Nyon.