Freiburg beat Bayen Munich to reap crucial points in Bundesliga; Stuttgart win

German champions Bayern Munich suffered another loss but remain atop standings

Berlin, May 17 (IANS): Bottom-placed Stuttgart earned vital points with a 2-1 comeback win over Hamburg FC while Freiburg eased their relegation worries with a 2-1 victory over champions Bayern Munich in the 33rd round of Bundesliga.

Stuttgart fought back 2-1 to wrap up three decisive points against Hamburg in the relegation battle on Saturday, reports Xinhua.

Stuttgart suffered an early setback, despite being the more active team, as Hamburg's Goijko Kacar headed home the first chance following Rafael van der Vaart's cross into the box at the 12th minute.

Stuttgart recovered and continued to work out chances against a passive Hamburg. The hosts were rewarded at the 27th minute. Christian Gentner restored parity when he scored beating goalkeeper Rene Adler from close range.

Martin Harnik tapped in at the far post with 35 minutes into the game to score the winning goal.

After the restart, Hamburg lacked in penetration while Stuttgart remained wasteful on their finish. But Stuttgart secured three points to jump from the last place to the 16th place. Hamburg slumped from the 14th to the 17th place.

Freiburg flabbergasted newly-crowned Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich 2-1 as substitute Nils Petersen scored the decider in the dying minutes of the game, easing the relegation worries for his club.

The German giants took the reins from the kick off against Freiburg and turned their dominance in the opening period into a tangible reward as Bastian Schweinsteiger broke the deadlock in the 13th minute following a pass by Mitchell Weiser.

Freiburg responded twenty minutes later through Admir Mehmedi, who made use of Schweinsteiger's misplaced pass to level the scores from 18 meters.

Bayern Munich piled on the pressure in the second half but neither Schweinsteiger's free-kick, that rattled the bar, nor Thiago Alcantara were unable to break the deadlock.

Substitute Nils Petersen punished Bayern's poor chance conversion in the closing period, only three minutes after his introduction ensuring Freiburg's first win over Bayern since November 1996.

With the 2-1 win Freiburg jump on the 14th position whereas Bayern suffered their third loss in row to remain atop the standings.

VFL Wolfsburg defended the second place in the standings with a 2-1 triumph over Borussia Dortmund.

Daniel Caligiuri scored the opener in the first minute of the game. Dortmund made it 1-1 when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted a penalty ten minutes later.

After the break, Wolfsburg shocked Dortmund with the 2-1 lead early in the second half through Naldo, whose shot from 10 meters secured Wolfsburg's 20th victory of the season.

Both sides stay on their positions, the "Wolves" remaining on the second place while Dortmund stayed at the seventh place.

Elsewhere, Schalke earned a last minute victory over newly promoted but wasteful Paderborn due to the own goal by Uwe Huenmeier. With the 0-1 defeat Paderborn slipped on the last place of the table.

Relegation-threatened Hannover sealed their first win in 2015, by courtesy of Lars Stindl brace, as they upset sixth-placed Augsburg 2-1.

Third placed Borussia Monchengladbach downed Bremen 2-0. Fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen beat Hoffenheim 2-0. Mainz defeated FC Cologne 2-0. Frankfurt shared the spoils with Hertha Berlin following a goalless draw.