Mario Gomez at the double as VfB Stuttgart beat Freiburg

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VfB Stuttgart moved further away from the relegation zone on Friday night as a Mario Gomez brace handed them a 2-1 victory away to Freiburg.

Freiburg 1-2 VfB Stuttgart

Goals: 0-1 Gomez (4'), 1-1 Petersen (53'), 2-1 Gomez (75')

The match was barely four minutes old when Stuttgart took the lead, with Mario Gomez timing his run perfectly to head in Dennis Aogo's pinpoint free-kick from the right. The hosts looked stunned for much of the remainder of the half and struggled to string passes together in the final third, indicative of their timid team performance. Stuttgart had a couple of half chances to extend their lead, but Alexander Schwolow made comfortable saves from Gomez and Christian Gentner.

The away side were made to rue their inability to press home their advantage after the break, however. Freiburg were more aggressive getting forward but still lacked the flicker of imagination up front until a moment of brilliance from Nils Petersen brought them level. Receiving the ball on the right-hand side of the penalty area and with a defender blocking his route to goal, the striker dinked a sublime effort over Ron-Robert Zieler and into the net. Stuttgart rallied, though, and deservedly earned a previous victory when Gomez finished off a superb right-wing cross from Andreas Beck to leave them 12 points clear of the drop zone.

Match stats

    Gomez's first goal was Stuttgart's fastest in almost four and a half years (since VfB scored in the third minute in a 1-1 draw against Nuremberg in 2013).The 32-year-old scored the first goal in a game for the 54th time in the Bundesliga - more than any other currently active player.Petersen's strike was Freiburg's 750th goal in Germany's top flight.Petersen is the top-scoring German in the Bundesliga this season with 13.Gomez has hit six goals in 10 games since returning to Stuttgart from Wolfsburg. Each has come away from home.VfB are undefeated since Korkut was appointed as coach, with five wins and two draws from his six games.

Line-ups

Freiburg: Schwolow – Kübler (Stenzel 77'), Söyüncü, Gulde – Terrazzino (Kleindienst 80') Koch, Höfler, Günter – Höler (Kath 60'), Petersen (c), Haberer
Unused subs: Gikiewicz, Lienhart, Frantz, Schuster
Absentees: Abrashi (knee), Ravet (match fitness), Stanko (knee), Niederlechner (knee cap)
Coach: Christian Streich

Stuttgart: Zieler – Beck, Pavard, Badstuber, Insua – Thommy (Akolo 60'), Ascacibar (Mangala 90+1'), Gentner (c), Aogo – Ginczek (Kaminski 78'), Gomez
Unused subs: Grahl, Asano, Donis, Bruun Larsen,
Absentees: Baumgartl (concussion), Zimmermann (match fitness), Mane (knee)  
Coach: Tayfun Korkut

Watch: Gomez on being called up to the Germany squad

As it happened