Martin Harnik's header moments before the half-time break has sent Stuttgart in level at 1-1 against Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.

It was almost the perfect start for the hosts as an early corner reached Robin Knoche, but he could only send the ball wide from a promising position in the box.

Stuttgart dominated possession for a long spell after soaking up the early pressure, and they missed a great chance to take the lead when Diego Benaglio reacted impressively to block Filip Kostic's close-range effort.

Wolfsburg started to take control once again midway through the first half, with Josuha Guilavogui heading just wide of the target after being gifted too much space.

The Stuttgart resistance was broken just before the interval as Daniel Caligiuri went down under a needless challenge from Florian Klein to give Ricardo Rodriguez the opportunity to open the scoring from the penalty spot.

However, the visitors responded well to get back on level terms as Harnik capitalised on some poor marking to head home from Kostic's cross.