Stuttgart, Freiburg reap crucial points in German Bundesliga

Bottom side Stuttgart earn vital points with a 2-1 comeback win over Hamburg while Freiburg ease their relegation worries with a 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich at the 33rd round of Bundesliga on Saturday.

At the penultimate Bundesliga round, Stuttgart and Freiburg sew important victories for their top-flight status meanwhile Hamburg and Paderborn suffer defeats to increase their relegation worries.

Stuttgart fought back 2-1 to wrap up three decisive points against Hamburg in the relegation battle.

The "Swabians" suffered an early set back, 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 passive Hamburg. Thus, the hosts got rewarded at the 27th minute as Christian Gentner restored parity when he nutmegged goalkeeper Rene Adler from close range.

Huub Steven's men were not done with the scoring as Martin Harnik turned the tides following a flicked on corner to tap in at the far post with 35 minutes into the game.

After the restart, Hamburg lacked in penetration meanwhile Stuttgart remained wasteful on their finish. Nevertheless, the " VfB" secured three points to jump from the last place on the 16th place, a relegation play off spot. Meanwhile, 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.

As expected the German giants took the reins from the kick off against Freiburg, who sit in touching distance to the drop zone.

Bayern turned their dominance in the opening period into a tangible reward as Bastian Schweinsteiger broke the deadlock with 13 minutes on the clock following a square pass by Mitchell Weiser.

However, the hosts remained unimpressed and responded twenty minutes later through Admir Mehmedi, who made use of Schweinsteiger misplaced pass to level the scores from 18 meter into the bottom left.

Bayern Munich piled on the pressure at the second half but neither Bastian Schweinsteiger's dead ball, that rattled the bar, nor Thiago Alcantara were unable to break the tie.

Freiburg's substitute Nils Petersen punished Bayern's poor chance conversion in the closing period, only three minutes after his fielding. He ensured Freiburg's first win over Bayern since November 1996.

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

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

The "Wolves" caught a perfect start in home soil as Daniel Caligiuri capitalized on Kevin De Bruyne's 21st assist of the season, which is a new Bundesliga record, to mark the opener with just one minutes into the game.

Dortmund made it 1-1 on the scoreboards as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted a foul play penalty into the bottom right ten minutes later.

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

Both sides stay on their positions; the "Wolves" remain on the second place while Dortmund stick on the 7th place.

Elsewhere, Schalke earned a last minute victory over newly promoted but wasteful Paderborn due to the own goal by Uwe Huenmeier. With the 1-0 defeat Paderborn slipped on the last place of the table whereas Schalke earn important points for an UEFA Europa League berth.

Relegation threatened Hannover sealed their first win in 2015, by courtesy of Lars Stindl brace, as they upset 6th placed Augsburg 2-1.

Third placed Monchengladbach down Bremen 2-0 on the road. Fourth placed Leverkusen beat Hoffenheim 2-0 thanks to the goals by Hakan Calhanoglu and Stefan Kiessling. Mainz defeated newly promoted Cologne 2-0 as Ja-Cheol Koo and Jairo were on target for the hosts and Frankfurt shared the spoils with Berlin following a goalless draw. Endite