BERLIN: Deniz Undav set up two goals for Germany teammate Jamie Leweling and grabbed one of his own as Stuttgart cruised to a 4-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga on Saturday.
Another Germany international, Maximilian Mittelstaedt, converted a first-half penalty for the visitors while Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo pulled one back from the spot in the second half.
The victory took the German Cup holders level on 29 points with third-placed RB Leipzig, but in fifth spot, one behind Leverkusen, on goal difference.
Stuttgart arrived in Leverkusen having won just one of the past 31 games in all competitions between the sides dating back to 2010, but were brilliant and led 4-0 at half-time.
Leweling poked home from close range after seven minutes. Undav set up Leweling to score again with 16 minutes gone, but the former Brighton man was offside.
Mittelstaedt converted a penalty just before the half-hour mark. Undav once again found Leweling to score just before half-time and added another two minutes into stoppage time as Stuttgart grabbed control of the match.
Playing his first league match since November, Grimaldo gave the scoreline a bit of respectability with a 66th-minute penalty after Malik Tillman was felled in the box.
Freiburg came from a goal down to beat Hamburg 2-1 at home, with the visitors playing most of the second half with 10 men.
Tottenham loanee Luka Vuskovic put Hamburg in front just after half-time but Freiburg scored twice through Vincenzo Grifo and Igor Matanovic after Daniel Elfadli picked up a second yellow on the 51st-minute mark.
The victory took Freiburg four points outside the European placings.
In the German capital, last-placed Mainz played out a 2-2 draw against Union Berlin, with visiting coach Urs Fischer managing his first match against his former side.
Germany midfielder Nadiem Amiri and former Union forward Benedict Hollerbach took the visitors to a two-goal lead but Jeong Woo-yeong and Danilho Doekhi scored inside the final 15 minutes to level things up.
Mainz are unbeaten in five games in all competitions since Fischer was appointed in early December, including a memorable 2-2 draw at league leaders Bayern Munich.
During an impressive five-and-a-half-year stint at Union, Fischer lifted the club from the second division to a maiden promotion and a season in the Champions League.
Elsewhere, Heidenheim picked up a valuable point in a 2-2 home draw with Cologne.
Two of Saturday’s matches — Leipzig’s visit to St. Pauli and Werder Bremen’s home clash with Hoffenheim — were postponed due to heavy snowfall across northern Germany.
On Sunday, Bayern can extend their lead atop the table over Borussia Dortmund to 11 points with a win at home against Wolfsburg.
Dortmund were held 3-3 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday.