Bundesliga outfit VfB Stuttgart are through to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup after beating Russian side Saturn Ramenskoje 3-0 after extra time.
Contrary to the game in Russia last weekend, this time around it took distinctly longer until the first chance of the game was created.
Marica miss
After 13 minutes, Arthur Boka sliced a shot from distance over the crossbar. Minutes later the Ivory Coast international was involved again, this time feeding Ciprian Marica, whose effort landed just the wrong side of the post.
As the game progressed, Saturn dropped consistently deeper into defence and allowed VfB to come at them. Before the break, Peter Nemov had to make a last moment headed clearance to get the ball away from Roberto Hilbert and the sides then went in at half time locked in stalemate.
Poor set-pieces
There were no changes made by either side at the break and although VfB pushed, chances were few and far between. The main reason for the home side's problems lay in their poor use of set pieces, which were all too often sent too long by Simak and Magnin.
It took until 15 minutes from time before VfB could create another serious opening but Marica was denied by Antonin Kinsky in the Saturn goal.
Simak breaks the deadlock
There were just seven minutes remaining when Martin Lanig was brought down by Zelao, 20 meters from goal. Jan Simak stepped up and hammered the resulting free kick into the top left hand corner of the net to make it 1:0.
With VfB having lost the first match by the same score, there was no way around another 30 minutes of extra time.
Marica's double whammy settles the tie
The Russian's had the first chance in extra time with a shot from Dimitriy Loskov that missed the target by a considerable distance. Soon after the home side were 2:0 up. Benoit Angbwa failed to clear comprehensively and Roberto Hilbert won the loose ball which he crossed to Ciprian Marica and the Romanian international only had to tap into an empty goal.
Minutes later, Simak swung in a corner which Sami Khedira headed goal-wards. Alexey Eremenko cleared off the line but Marica was on hand again to make it 3:0 for VfB from close range and guarantee the German side would progress to the UEFA Cup qualifiers.
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