Advertisement

Stevens makes quick impact as Stuttgart climb off bottom

BERLIN (Reuters) - Martin Harnik struck twice to help VfB Stuttgart climb off the foot of the Bundesliga table with a 4-1 win at Freiburg on Friday as Dutch coach Huub Stevens made a victorious return to the club. Stevens, who saved the team from relegation last season, took charge again on Tuesday when Armin Veh quit and Stuttgart were unrecognisable from the side that had lost their three previous league games without scoring a goal. Austria international Harnik headed his team in front after 31 minutes. The home team levelled through Vladimir Darida 11 minutes later and were then denied a second goal by the crossbar. Stuttgart were again on the back foot after the break but they pounced on a mistake in midfield to take a 2-1 lead thanks to Carlos Gruezo who drilled the ball in after 52 minutes. Timo Werner took advantage of another Freiburg error to grab the third goal from a quick break before Harnik struck again in the 76th minute to seal Stuttgart's first win of the month and lift them two places in the Bundesliga with 12 points from 13 matches. Freiburg, on the same points total in 14th position, had Stefan Mitrovic sent off with 20 minutes to go. Bayern Munich, who have a seven-point lead at the top of the table, travel to Hertha Berlin on Saturday. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Tony Jimenez)