Boro edge into next round
Middlesbrough 0 Stuttgart 1 (2-2 on aggregate, Middlesbrough win on away goals)
Middlesbrough limped into the last 16 of the UEFA Cup after surviving a major scare at the hands of Stuttgart.
The Germans needed just 13 minutes to erase Boro’s 2-1 first-leg lead when Christian Tiffert fired past Mark Schwarzer as the visitors made a nonsense of the Teessiders’ home advantage.
Armin Veh’s side dominated the first half in front of a crowd of 24,018, the biggest the Riverside Stadium has seen in Europe this season by almost 10,000, to leave Steve McClaren’s men facing an uphill struggle.
The home side rallied after the break and might have levelled through Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink but for an excellent block by goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand, but it took a concerted rearguard action in the dying minutes to see them through on away goals as the visitors went for broke.
In the end, the home supporters went home satisfied with the outcome, if not particularly with the performance.
Manager Steve McClaren had been at pains to remind anyone who cared to listen both in the immediate aftermath of his side’s 2-1 first-leg win in Germany last week and during the run-up to tonight’s game that the tie was far from over, and his view was proved painfully prophetic.
Stuttgart showed enough during the opening 45 minutes at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium to warrant respect – indeed, the Boro boss admitted they could have been two or three goals to the good by the break rather than trailing to Hasselbaink’s strike.
But Veh’s side arrived on Teesside with nothing to lose, and needed just 13 minutes to level the aggregate scores and throw the tie wide open.
They had already gone close twice through livewire striker Danijel Ljuboja - the man whose late goal last week had handed them a lifeline – when Tiffert ran on to his pass and poked the ball nonchalantly past Schwarzer with the outside of his right foot.
The only surprise was that by the time the half-time whistle sounded, the visitors had not extended their lead on the night as they dominated while Boro floundered.
Where Tiffert and Ljuboja threatened at regular intervals, lone striker Hasselbaink was starved of meaningful service and Gaizka Mendieta in support was criminally negligent in possession.
The Spaniard was not alone as Stewart Downing and the usually reliable George Boateng gave the ball away with breathtaking regularity as the Teessiders’ five-man midfield was overrun.
McClaren’s men did not muster a single serious attempt on goal in the first half, a woeful Mendieta free-kick and a powder-puff Hasselbaink header representing their best efforts.
By contrast, the Germans cut through the Boro rearguard too often for comfort with left-back Ludovic Magnin providing a promising outlet down one wing and Tiffert prospering on the other to provide Ljuboja with plenty of the ball.
The 27-year-old hitman might have earned his side a penalty four minutes before the break when he contemptuously span away from Franck Queudrue and glided past Gareth Southgate before going to ground under the defender’s challenge.
Dutch referee Eric Braamhaar swiftly waved his appeals away and replays showed the official had got it right with Southgate just making contact with the ball before his man.
McClaren resisted the temptation to make changes at the break, and that policy almost paid dividends within a minute of the restart.
Teenage midfielder Lee Cattermole picked up possession inside his own half and slid the ball into the path of Hasselbaink, who looked to get the benefit of a generous offside decision to run in on goal.
However, Hildebrand, who must have felt aggrieved not to have kept out the Dutchman’s first-half strike last week, this time proved equal to the task to preserve his side’s lead.
Boro laboured as they attempted to force their way back into the game with Hasselbaink at least seeing more of the ball, but the visitors continued to look more potent and Tiffert might have done better from a narrow angle of 55 minutes after Queudrue’s slip allowed him a sight of goal.
However, the home side were finally building up a head of steam and went desperately close on 63 minutes when Mendieta combined with Hasselbaink and side-stepped Hildebrand only to see Markus Babbel clear his left-foot shot off the line.
Schwarzer had to tip away a 72nd-minute Magnin free-kick as the Germans made their final push, and it took some determined defending to keep the visitors at bay as time ran down, but the home side got there in the end.
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