Rudy Tuesday gets VfB's stone rolling

Sebastian Rudy reflected on his first UEFA Champions League goal as the 19-year-old midfielder provided the inspiration for VfB Stuttgart's first victory in Group G which keeps Markus Babbel's side in contention for a place in the last 16.

Unirea decider
The German Under-21 international gave the visitors an early first-half lead when he slotted home Aleksandr Hleb's cut-back and capped an assured performance with an assist for Zdravko Kuzmanović just before the hour to set up a deciding match against FC Unirea Urziceni to see who joins Sevilla FC in the knockout stages. "Naturally, it was a great feeling to score my first goal in the Champions League," Rudy told uefa.com. "I hope there are many more to come. The most important thing is that the team won and it was also very satisfying to play a part in the second goal. We have a good chance to go through now. It all comes down to the last game and at the moment we can just enjoy this result."

Sweet relief
Thomas Hitzlsperger, who started on the substitutes' bench, was relieved his side ended a ten-game run without a victory in all competitions, and having secured their first win of the campaign, the club captain is sure Stuttgart can clinch a place in the last 16 on Matchday 6. "It's difficult to say why we have been doing so badly in the Bundesliga, but hopefully that victory will mark a turning point for us," the former Aston Villa FC midfielder, whose team are third from bottom in Germany, told uefa.com. "We've been creating plenty of chances without taking them. We managed to do that against Rangers and maybe the change of competition helped us. Now we must focus on the final game against Unirea and with home advantage I'm confident we can go through."

Boyd rueful
For Rangers striker Kris Boyd it was a night of mixed emotions. Handed his first group-stage start, the 26-year-old was left to rue a missed opportunity on the 30-minute mark and on the back of three home defeats in the section, the striker concedes that Rangers may not have the depth to compete successfully on two fronts. "I should have scored it, I know that," Boyd admitted to uefa.com. "It was a great chance and I didn't take it. If it had gone in, it might have been a different story but it wasn't to be on the night. Maybe we don't have the squad to cope with the demands of the Champions League and the SPL. The final game [against Sevilla] is about pride now, but first of all we need to pick ourselves up for Saturday's game at Aberdeen."