Bundesliga: Freiburg 1 Stuttgart 2

Stuttgart climbed to third in the Bundesliga on Friday, after Martin Harnik’s brace sealed a 2-1 win away to Freiburg.

Austria international Harnik opened the scoring in the 31st minute at the Dreisamstadion, gathering Oliver Barth’s poor clearance to shoot through a crowd of players and leave Oliver Baumann helpless in the Freiburg goal.

The home side had chances to level during the first half and early in the second through Papis Demba Cisse, but it was the visitors who claimed the next goal.

And Harnik was the man to deliver again, collecting a cross from Cristian Molinaro and launching a drive into the top left corner of the net, making it 2-0 with 17 minutes remaining.

Senegal international Cisse did pull one back on 83 minutes, wrong-footing defender Khalid Boulahrouz and beating Stuttgart goalkeeper Sven Ulreich.

The strike lifted his tally to five goals already this season, but it was not enough to prevent the home side slumping to their fourth defeat from six matches played.

Freiburg moved to 15th on the table, two points outside the relegation zone.

Stuttgart meanwhile are just two points behind joint leaders Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen.

They are also level with Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen, but can be overhauled when those clubs are in action during the weekend.