BERLIN, March 12 (Xinhua) — VfB Stuttgart suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Portuguese league leader FC Porto in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday, leaving the German side needing a result away from home to keep its quarterfinal hopes alive.
The hosts started brightly and created the first openings when Bilal El Khannouss raced onto an early through ball, but pushed his touch beyond Diogo Costa before going down. Moments later, Jamie Leweling was played in on the right, but his square pass failed to find a teammate.
Stuttgart continued to press and Ermedin Demirovic tested the Porto defense during an energetic opening spell. Porto initially struggled to threaten, but struck suddenly after 20…