Stuttgart wasted no time showing they meant business: within the first 11 minutes, the Germans had three goals to their name, leaving Romanians Unirea Urzecini without a fighting chance.

Stuttgart took the lead just five minutes in after a header from Romanian international Ciprian Marica. Christian Traesch followed his lead in the eighth and Pavel Pogrebnyak brought the tally to three in the 11th.

Antonio Semedo tried his best to put Unirea back in the game with a goal two minutes after the break but that was where his side's success ended.

"That was a fantastic start," Stuttgart goalkeeper Jens Lehmann said after the game.

"We now belong to the best 16 teams in Europe and now we also want to show that in the Bundesliga," he added.

New coach Christian Gross, the successor of sacked Markus Babbel, was also hopeful that Stuttgart's success would carry over to the national league.

"We were able to put our opponents under pressure with our dominant performance," Gross said.

"I hope we're able to carry this momentum over to the Bundesliga," he said.

The win means that Stuttgart have not only overtaken Unirea in Group G to finish behind Sevilla, but the Germans also now have the honor of being the team to score the fastest three-goal start in Champions League history.

Other results

Barcelona, Inter Milan and Olympiakos also advanced to complete the lineup for the next round of Champions League play.

Defending champions Barcelona sealed their spot with a 2-1 win at Dynamo Kiev, while their Group F rivals Inter Milan took top spot after a 2-0 victory over Russia's Rubin Kazan.

Olympiakos finished second in Group H following a 1-0 win against already qualified Arsenal.

ca/dpa/AP/AFP/Reuters

Editor: Rick Demarest