Barcelona rallies to tie Stuttgart, 1-1

For 45 minutes Tuesday night, and much to its surprise, soccer’s reigning Spanish, European and world champion was pinned back on its heels.

Going into the locker room at halftime against VfB Stuttgart, Barcelona was trailing, 1-0, on the road in a European Champions League game, and the unheralded German team looked as if it might pull off a considerable upset.

Then, seven minutes into the second half, a headed pass by Barcelona’s Gerard Pique found teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic unmarked in the penalty area. The lanky Swede fired a shot that caromed off the chest of goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, with the ball rebounding to Ibrahimovic, who poked it into the net.

Just like that it was 1-1, and Barcelona, with Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta leading the way, was in control the rest of the way.

The round-of-16 game, the first in a two-game series, ended in a 1-1 tie, leaving Barcelona favored to reach the quarterfinals when the second game is played at its stadium March 17.

“I think a 1-1 draw against Barcelona is a success,� Coach Christian Gross said. “Not many teams take points off Barcelona, so this makes me happy.�

True, but had Stuttgart played in the second half as well as it did in the first, the Bundesliga team might have come away with even more.

“There are no easy matches at this level,� Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola said. “It was tough.�

The first 45 minutes belonged to Stuttgart, which scored in the 25th minute when German under-21 international winger Timo Gebhart swung a cross into the box from the right and Brazilian-born striker Cacau leaped to head it powerfully into the net.

Cacau should have been a known quantity to Barcelona. He scored four goals as recently as Saturday, when Stuttgart beat Cologne, 5-1, in a Bundesliga game. All too frequently, the forward’s speed and control -- along with that of teammates Gebhart and Cristian Molinaro -- caused problems for Barcelona’s defense.

The writing was on the wall, however, when Messi got free five minutes before halftime to blast a shot that Lehmann partially blocked, with the ball getting past him only to bounce back into his arms off the right-hand post.

Lehmann had luck on his side in that instance, but he enjoyed no such good fortune on the goal by Ibrahimovic.

Elsewhere, Greek champion Olympiakos could make no such claim after it turned in a tame and ineffectual effort in Athens against French champion Bordeaux, which won, 1-0, on a headed goal by Michael Ciani off a free kick by Yoann Gourcuff in injury time at the end of the first half.

Olympiakos fans hurled plastic chairs at Bordeaux supporters after the final whistle and police had to quell further clashes outside the stadium.

The Greek team came close to scoring late in the game, having two shots cleared off the line and a goal disallowed after a foul. The players appeared unimpressed by the calls made by English referee Howard Webb.

“We were up against the referee for the whole match,� defender Vassilis Torosidis said.

grahame.jones

@latimes.com

Jones reported from Los Angeles