Stuttgart rout Odense
Stuttgart welcomed new head coach Bruno Labbadia with a comfortable home 5-1 victory over Odense to finish off Group H of the Europa League as table toppers.
Timo Gebhart opened the scoring in the 20th minute for Stuttgart and Daniel Hoegh's own goal made it 2-0 three minutes after the break.
Christian Gentner netted in the 65th minute and Pavel Pogrebnyak gave Stuttgart a 4-0 advantage five minutes later, before Peter Utaka scored a consolation goal for Odense, who finished bottom of the group.
Ciprian Marica added a final goal for Stuttgart three minutes into stoppage time.
The hosts had the first chance of the game after 13 minutes but Marica's shot from the left hit only the side netting.
Stuttgart grabbed the lead seven minutes later as Christian Molinaro's cross from the left was headed by Pogrebnyak straight at Moller Christensen, who tried to chest the ball down but only succeeded in setting up Gebhart to poke home the loose ball.
Odense nearly equalised after 25 minutes but Chris Sorensen's shot glanced off the outside of the left post.
Stuttgart wasted a great opportunity to double the lead 12 minutes later as Marica shot over the crossbar from four yards out.
The hosts remained the dominant team and had another chance two minutes after the break but Zdravko Kuzmanovic's long free kick attempt went just wide right.
Stuttgart did finally make it 2-0 a minute later. Gebhart's cross from the left side was deflected into the Odense goal by Hoegh past keeper Emil Ousager.
Pogrebnyak hit the side netting in the 61st minute and Marica again missed a golden chance a minute later with Ousager stopping the one-on-one attack.
Stuttgart however pushed the margin to 3-0 after 65 minutes as Arthur Boka's shot was blocked by the Odense defense only to be hit home by Gentner.
And the hosts made it 4-0 five minutes later with Christensen attempting to clear Pogrebnyak's shot but the backspin on the ball brought it into the goal.
Utaka pulled a goal back two minutes later after beating a number of Stuttgart defenders before striking past keeper Sven Ulreich, but there was still time for Marica to make it five.
VfB Stuttgart 5-1 Odense BK: Match Report - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game as it happened.
Source: DSG
