Ciprian Marica’s goal late in the first half was enough for VfB Stuttgart to collect a 1-0 victory at SC Freiburg and continue their strong run in the Bundesliga on Friday.
The Champions League side collected their third straight win and extended their unbeaten streak to five games.
Christian Gross’ team improved to 22 points from 19 rounds, moving into 11th place in the league.
PHOTO: EPA
“I think we’re out of the crisis. The success brings self-confidence and things are going well now,” Stuttgart midfielder Alexander Hleb said.
Goalkeeper Sven Ulreich played his third game as a replacement for the suspended Jens Lehmann.
“We dominated the first half, before Freiburg came back a bit in the second half, but we could have added a goal if we had finished our counterattacks,” Ulreich said. “Still, most important is that we won.”
Freiburg were unable to pull clear of the relegation zone after their third loss in a row. They have 18 points and are 15th in the standings. Robin Dutt’s team have not scored in their last four games.
Stuttgart dominated the first half hour, but were unable to take the lead until the 41st minute, when Marica collected a pass from Pavel Pogrebnyak before beating Freiburg keeper Simon Pouplin.
The hosts put the ball in the net after 63 minutes, but Papiss Cisse’s shot was deflected in off the offside Heiko Butscher.
Stuttgart defender George Niedermeier cleared Felix Bastians’ header off the line with 14 minutes to play.
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