Despite Stuttgart starting with more purpose, it was the hosts’ counter-attacking endeavour that produced the game’s first chances. Dorgeles Nene broke away and pulled his shot into the gloves of Alexander Nubel, before Youssef En-Nesyri’s powerful effort met the same fate.
But the visitors’ pressure soon started to pay dividends, and Luca Jaquez rose high to head a whisker wide of Ederson’s right post.
As is often the case amid the heated atmosphere of the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, things began to get increasingly chaotic, and it reached boiling point when Fenerbahce were awarded a penalty after Angelo Stiller hauled down Milan Skriniar in the area.
Kerem Akturkoglu stepped up and buried his fourth European goal of the campaign, a haul which includes his strike for former club SL Benfica, which knocked his current employers out of UEFA Champions League qualifying.
Stuttgart could do nothing about that before the break, and they survived a scare after it when another spot-kick decision for Fenerbahce was overturned due to an offside in the build-up.
The same thing then happened minutes later, but this time at the other end when Stiller went down under Edson Alvarez’s challenge.
The hosts responded well to that and had chances to extend their lead, while Deniz Undav scuffed wide for Stuttgart after being found by Bilal El Khannouss as part of a quick counter.
Sarı Kanaryalar held on from there with relative ease, increasing their unbeaten home run to 11 matches and continuing their recovery in this competition since losing to Dinamo Zagreb on the opening day.
As well as tasting defeat on the road for the second successive UEL game, Stuttgart’s overall performance here would have disappointed Sebastian Hoeness, especially with a four-match winning run in the Bundesliga to preserve at the weekend.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kerem Akturkoglu (Fenerbahce SK)