21 August 2006, by Marco Pereira

Nine-man Stuttgart scrape dramatic win

World Cup hero Fernando Meira gets on scoresheet

Bundesliga side, Stuttgart, were able to squeak out a 3-2 win over Arminia Bielefeld despite being down to nine men when the final whistle blew.

Stuttgart opened the scoring in the 39th minute with Portugal international, Fernando Meira, doing the honours.

The home team struck back in the second-half when substitute, Abdelaziz Ahanfouf, converted a penalty after Stuttgart’s Mexican defender, Ricardo Osorio, was sent off for using his hand in the box which lead to the spot kick.

Despite being a man down, Stuttgart regained the lead when Brazilian, Antonio da Silva, hit the net in the 73rd minute, but Bielefeld would not lie down as Bohme got the score back on level terms, 2-2, just three minutes later.

Ten minutes from time, da Silva was sent off for a second bookable offence, leaving Stuttgart down to nine men.

Yet remarkably they pulled ahead two minutes later, as Brazilian striker, Cacau, clinched all three points for Stuttgart.

Arminia Bielefeld:
Mathais Hahn, Marcio Borges, Markus Schuler, Heiko Westermann, Bernd Korzynietez, Rudiger Kauf, Thorben Marx, Ioannis Masmanidis, Jonas Kamper (Jorg Bohme, 61), Christian Eigler (David Kobylik, 74), Artur Wichniarek (Abdelaziz Ahanfouf, 46)

Stuttgart:
Timo Hildebrand, Mathieu Delpierre, Fernando Meira, Ludovic Magnin, Ricardo Osorio, Pavel Pardo, Daniel Bierofka (Marco Streller,92), Antonio Da Silva, Roberto Hilbert, Cacau (Christian Genter, 88), Jon Tomasson (Serdar Tasci, 68)

Goals:
[0-1] Fernando Meira, 39
[1-1] Ahanfouf, 66 (pen)
[1-2] Da Silva, 73
[2-2] Bohme, 76
[2-3] Cacau, 82