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Leverkusen suffer surprise defeat, Stuttgart hit six

Bayer Leverkusen made a stuttering start to their Bundesliga preparations as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of third-tier outfit Sonnenhof Grossaspach.

Roger Schmidt's side were unable to find a way through in high temperatures on Sunday as Pascal Breier's strike just before the half-hour mark settled the match.

Stuttgart had no such problems against Viktoria Plzen as they ran out 6-3 winners in their friendly in Austria, Martin Harnik grabbing two in the first half for the Bundesliga side.

Harnik's strikes added to Jerome Kieswetter's opener before Arianit Ferati, Carlos Gruezo and Jan Kliment completed an emphatic win for Alexander Zorniger's side.

Gdansk duo Damian Garbacik and Jerome Gierszewski both missed from the spot to hand Hannover victory, after Kenan Karaman had levelled in the final minute of normal time for the German side.