Late lapse keeps Stuttgart in the danger zone

BERLIN: Former Bundesliga champions Stuttgart conceded an 89th minute goal to draw 1-1 at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday and remain deep in the relegation battle.

Midfielder Daniel Didavi, who was only picked to play at the last minute, slotted in from close range after 12 minutes to give Stuttgart the lead.

The visitors were far more aggressive and hungrier than Gladbach and hit the post on 87 minutes through Ibrahima Traore's fierce free kick.

But two minutes later they let their guard down and Juan Arango headed the equaliser.

Stuttgart, champions in 2007, are on 28 points, one above Hamburg SV who lost 2-1 at Hanover 96 courtesy of a late winner from Didier Ya Konan to remain in the relegation playoff spot.

Gladbach dropped to fifth with VfL Wolfsburg making the most of their draw to crush Nuremberg 4-1 and leapfrog into fourth place a point above, and in contention for a spot in the Champions League next season.

Goals from Croats Ivan Perisic and Ivica Olic cancelled out Nuremberg's early lead. Junior Malanda and Perisic added two more late in the game.

Werder Bremen also joined the relegation fray when they lost 3-0 at Mainz 05 to drop to 12th on 33 points, five ahead of Hamburg. Nils Petersen scored a spectacular own goal with Christoph Moritz and Yunus Malli adding two more as Mainz dominated and should have added at least three or four more.

Freiburg moved up to 32 points after beating bottom-placed Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0 with an own goal and a second deflected effort to boost their own chances of staying up.

Champions Bayern Munich take on second-placed Borussia Dortmund in the league's big game later on Saturday.

Schalke 04 are level with Dortmund on 58 points after beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 on Friday.