BERLIN, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Jonas Hofmann's equalizer canceled out Konstatinos Mavropanos' opener and helped Borussia Monchengladbach share the spoils with Stuttgart on home soil in the eighth round of Bundesliga on Saturday.
The "Foals" grabbed a bright start and came to early chances but neither Kouadio Kone nor Luca Netz could break the deadlock.
Stuttgart then stunned Monchengladbach out of the blue with a goal in the 15th minute when Mavropanos unleashed a long-range hammer to flabbergast goalkeeper Yann Sommer from 22 meters into the bottom left corner.
Monchengladbach was shocked and needed some time to recover whereas Stuttgart should have made it two but for all that Tanguy Coulibaly chipped the ball over the target with just Sommer to beat at the half-hour mark.
The visitors' golden chance was a wake-up call for Monchengladbach and helped the hosts to level the scores just before the break as Netz tested Stuttgart goalie Fabian Bredlow in the 41st minute before Hofmann's volley restored parity moments later.
After the break, Monchengladbach dominated the proceedings but lacked accuracy while Stuttgart defended deep in its territory to protect the stalemate.
The hosts kept Stuttgart's defence busy as they blocked Alassane Plea's dangerous shot in the 69th minute before Bredlow was on guard to defuse the striker's effort 10 minutes later.
Stuttgart snatched the best chance of the second half though as Sommer had to stretch to neutralize Chris Fuhrich's promising attempt in the closing stages.
With the result, Borussia Monchengladbach stay on the 10th position whereas Stuttgart remain on the 12th spot of the Bundesliga table.
"It was a classy game. We started with a lot of power in the first half. In the second half we no longer had the game under control and our attacks were no longer played out so cleanly," Monchengladbach head coach Adi Hutter said.
On Sunday, Bayer Leverkusen host defending champions Bayern Munich for the top clash and Augsburg face Armenia Bielefeld to conclude the eighth round. Enditem