Gers suffer Stuttgart stumble
Walter Smith’s men now need at least a draw when Lyon come calling in the final group match on December 12 after the French champions earned a draw against Barcelona.
Rangers had taken the lead through substitute Charlie Adam before Stuttgart hit back through Cacau. Barry Ferguson then cancelled out Pavel Pardo’s strike before Ciprian Marica clinched the win late on.
Rangers boss Walter Smith admitted Stuttgart’s equaliser on the stroke of half-time was the turning point.
“We came out and worked very hard and managed to get back on level terms, then we had another opportunity just after when Charlie Adam could have put us in front,” Smith said.
“I’m a little bit disappointed to lose but at the end of the day, I felt losing the goal before half-time was probably the turning point in the game.”
Stuttgart enjoyed a decent amount of possession early on but it was Rangers who squandered a great chance to take an early lead.
Barry Ferguson’s shot cannoned off a red shirt and the rebound fell kindly to DaMarcus Beasley but the ball tangled under his feet and his weak effort was easily dealt with by goalkeeper Raphael Schafer.
Stuttgart were under pressure again when Darcheville burst into the box unmarked but the end product was disappointing as he blasted into the side-netting.
At the other end, Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor was called into action to block a point-blank effort from Cacau with his legs.
Rangers then had a couple of good chances of their own. A Thomson effort was deflected just wide by Matthieu Delpierre before a David Weir header was hooked off the line by Ludovic Magnin.
Lee McCulloch was then forced out of the action with just 26 minutes gone. His challenge on Roberto Hilbert earned him the first yellow card of the night before limping off the park after he was the victim of an Andreas Beck tackle.
Adam was the replacement and had an immediate impact on the game when he opened the scoring within 60 seconds. A Beasley corner was nodded down by Carlos Cuellar and Adam was on hand to stab home from a few yards with his first touch of the ball.
Stuttgart pushed forward in search of an equaliser before the break and were rewarded for their hard work on the half-time whistle. Rangers were caught napping at a Thomas Hitzlsperger corner, which Pardo knocked into the path of Cacau to backheel home.
The Germans made a change at the break, with Khedira withdrawn for Antonio Da Silva.
Rangers could have restored their lead within a minute of the restart when Darcheville threaded the ball through to Beasley only for Schafer to race off his line and smother before he could pull the trigger.
Beasley was hurt in the collision and Rangers lost a second player to injury when he was carried off and replaced by Steven Naismith.
Stuttgart were also hungry for another goal and came close when Cacau flashed a teasing ball across the face of goal but Marica just failed to connect a few yards out.
Pardo had more luck with 62 minutes gone when he unleashed an audacious 25-yard shot which sliced through the Gers defence and sneaked under the body of McGregor.
But Rangers were back on level terms eight minutes later when Naismith robbed Delpierre of possession before racing to the byline and cutting back to Ferguson, who had plenty of time to find the net.
Rangers threw Cousin into the action in place of Darcheville for the last 10 minutes as they searched for the winner.
Stuttgart came close to snatching all three points when a long-ranger from Magnin whistled just over the crossbar.
Instead, it was Marica who earned their first points of the campaign with six minutes to go. Magnin was the provider and Marica managed to squeeze in front of Weir to flick a deft volley into the top corner.
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