Mönchengladbach maintain Bundesliga bid

VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach kept up the pressure on the leading trio in the Bundesliga with a comfortable 3-0 success at VfB Stuttgart, on a day when 1. FSV Mainz 05 eased their relegation fears against SC Freiburg.

FC Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04 all won on Saturday to maintain their three-way lead at the top of the table, but Mönchengladbach are still breathing down their necks one point further back. Mike Hanke headed in the opener from a Marco Reus free-kick just after the half-hour and Reus added the second himself nine minutes from time, before Igor De Camargo rounded things off from close range shortly afterwards.

In the lower half of the standings, Mainz lifted themselves to 12th via a 3-1 victory against bottom club Freiburg. Eric Choupo-Moting put the home side ahead with just three minutes gone and the situation worsened for Freiburg when Fallou Diagne was dismissed for impeding Ádám Szalai a minute later. Eugen Polanski buried the resultant penalty and Choupo-Moting notched his second of the game on 17 minutes, before Pavel Krmaš conjured a second-half consolation for the visitors.