Leverkusen frustrated, Gomez stuns Stuttgart
Sunday, December 19, 2010
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen missed the chance to go second after drawing 2-2 with SC Freiburg but FC Bayern München, and Mario Gomez, were rampant against VfB Stuttgart.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen missed the chance to make second place their own after drawing 2-2 against SC Freiburg, while FC Bayern München moved into fifth as they hit five at VfB Stuttgart, with the help of a Mario Gomez hat-trick.
Borussia Dortmund's first defeat since the opening day of the season had offered Leverkusen the opportunity to move to within eight points of the leaders, but Jupp Heynckes' side were frustrated by Freiburg at a snowbound BayArena.
The visitors responded to Arturo Vidal's penalty (16) with goals from Jan Rosenthal (24) and Stefan Reisinger (65), and although substitute Patrick Helmes levelled 15 minutes from time, the hosts failed to score again. Leverkusen will thus spend the winter break in third place, level on points with 1. FSV Mainz 05.
Bruno Labbadia's first league match in charge of Stuttgart began inauspiciously as his side were humbled 5-3 by Bayern, who raced into a three-goal half-time lead through Gomez, Thomas Müller and Franck Ribéry. Gomez completed his third treble in two months after the break (52, 54), although Martin Harnik struck twice (49, 64) and Christian Gentner (70) grabbed a third for the hosts. Stuttgart remain two points off the bottom; Bayern move into fifth, a point above Freiburg.