German Bundesliga

The German Bundesliga football season kicked off on Friday night with a stylish win for VfL Wolfsburg against visitors Stuttgart. The champions won 2-0.

New Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh made just one change from the side preferred by his predecessor Felix Magath last season with Karim Ziani starting in the midfield behind Edin Dzeko and Grafite.

Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel gave new signings Alexander Hleb and Pavel Pogrebnyak an immediate chance to see what they could do.

First half chances

The two sides showed plenty of energy in the first half and Stuttgart had some opportunities with Sami Khedira seeing a shot saved on the line by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio and Pogrebnyak also having a header saved, but at the half-time whistle, neither side had hit the back of the net.

Wolfsburg, however, was the better team throughout and the deadlock was broken in the 71st minute by Zvjezdan Misimovic with a curled left-footed shot from the edge of the box. Just 11 minutes later, the freshly-crowned German Footballer of the Year, Grafite, managed to get the clincher by shrugging off a defender and slotting a shot past keeper Jens Lehmann.

Champions Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg went undefeated at home last season with 16 wins and a draw en route to a surprise first national title ahead of Bayern Munich and Stuttgart.

The Brazilian, Grafite, was last season's Bundesliga top scorer knotching up 28 goals to his credit.

Grafite summed up tonight's opening victory thus: "It was a nice evening for the club and for myself. Another goal for me, I am happy!"

td/dpa/Reuters/AFP