VfB Stuttgart secured a well earned 3-1 victory over Romanian outfit Unirea Urziceni at the Mercedes-Benz Arena to progress to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

Former Tottenham boss Christian Gross was in the dugout for the Bundesliga outfit for the first time after former Liverpool defender Markus Babbel was sacked on Sunday after a dismal run of form domestically.

And the Swiss tactician showed he has the midas touch as Stuttgart raced into a 3-0 lead after just 11 minutes - the quickest in UEFA Champions League history.

Ironically, it was Ciprian Marica who gave them the perfect start and broke the hearts of his Romanian countrymen by heading home the opener from Sami Khedira's excellent cross after just five minutes.

Unirea nearly equalised when Marius Ioan Bilasco caught the home defence napping but it was Stuttgart who would take advantage on the counter attack to double their lead.

Dan Petrescu's side were made to pay the ultimate price a they searched for a quick response as they fell further behind when Christian Trasch raced clear to fire into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.

Soon after, the home crowd was jubilant once more when Pavel Pogrebnyak showed a clean pair of heels to beat his man and slot under helpless goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis.

Both managers seemed to be in disbelief over their tidings with the 3-0 deficit leaving Petrescu looking bewildered whilst Gross encouraged his side's sudden emergence of form.

The tie seemed all but over for Unirea, but credit to them they continued to fight and were determined to overturn the result despite the chances very much against them.

After the break, they were given a lifeline when Antonio Semedo's well-taken goal gave the visitors renewed hope of snatching a vital draw which would have seen them progress.

Unfortunately for them, however, Stuttgart held firm and with the Romanian champions struggling to keep hold of the ball the Germans finished easy 3-1 winners.