Bundesliga: Freiburg rescue valuable point at Stuttgart with late show; Augsburg thump Mainz 05

Berlin: Florian Niederlechner’s scrappy goal in the last minute of stoppage time earned Freiburg a 2-2 draw at Stuttgart in Sunday’s Baden-Wurttemberg derby. The stalemate gave the visitors a valuable point to sit in 13th, three ahead of Stuttgart who remain in the relegation playoff position. Freiburg took the lead early through Janik Haberer, who guided the ball into the bottom corner of the net after a superbly weighted assist from Nils Petersen. [caption id=“attachment_6020791” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Freiburg left it late to secure a 2-2 draw against Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. Twitter/@Bundesliga_EN[/caption] As the game wore on, the early lead appeared to become more of a curse than a blessing for Freiburg. The men from the Black Forest went into their shell in trying to protect their advantage, creating few opportunities to score again. Mario Gomez was subbed on at halftime in search of a second-half equaliser, but Stuttgart’s first goal came through an unlikely source in left back Emiliano Insua in the 75th minute. The Argentine – who scored the equaliser in the teams’ clash earlier in the season – drove the ball through a congested penalty box and past keeper Alexander Schwolow. The home side hit the front just eight minutes later through Daniel Didavi, who hammered the ball home in the bottom left-hand corner after being left unmarked in front of goal. In the 89th minute Gomez was sent from the field after picking up a second yellow card for a stray elbow, although replays indicated that the German World Cup winner was the victim of a poor decision from the referee. With the clock winding down, Freiburg’s Niederlechner scored the leveller in the 94th minute of time added on. Jerome Gondorf teed up the newly substituted Niederlechner who put the ball past an indecisive Ron-Robert Zieler. Earlier, Augsburg’s Icelandic striker Alfreð Finnbogason scored three goals and had a fourth ruled out for offside as he led his team to a 3-0 win over Mainz 05. Finnbogason put his side 1-0 up in the eighth minute before adding another in the 34th – with both coming from the penalty spot. The Iceland representative now has nine penalties from nine attempts in the Bundesliga. Finnbogason completed his hat-trick in the 54th minute, converting a Jan Moravek assist. It was his fourth hat-trick since joining Augsburg FC in 2016.