Europa League: Genk shock Stuttgart with late equaliser

Berlin, Feb 15 (IANS): Genk’s Glynor Plet denied Stuttgart a neat 1-0 win owing to his last-minute equaliser at the first leg of the last 32 in Europa League football. It could have been Stuttgart’s first win of 2013.

Stuttgart took the reins at the first half but opportunities by Vedad Ibisevic and Martin Harnik remained unused. Their goalkeeper Sven Ulreich had almost nothing to do at the first half although he had to deny an attempt by Elyaniv Bardas, Xinhua reported Thursday.

In the 42nd minute Stuttgart finally broke the deadlock when Christian Gentner slotted home a rebound from very close range following an error by Genk goalkeeper Laszlo Koeteles who was unable to hold the ball.

The Germans retracted with the neat lead behind in the belief that they were able to kill the clock, but it turned out more different than expected as Genk exploited their only chance of the second half to level the score in the 91st minute.

Genk’s Glynor Plet nodded home a deflected cross by Steven Jospeh Monrose to leave hosts stunned.