BERLIN (AP) 鈥� Deniz Undav celebrated his by scoring for the sixth consecutive Bundesliga game in Stuttgart鈥檚 5-2 rout of Augsburg on Sunday.
This time Undav scored twice to take his tally to 18 for the season and deliver Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann a timely reminder 鈥� if he needs one 鈥� of his prowess before warmup games against Switzerland and Ghana.
The win lifted Stuttgart to third with seven rounds remaining, well placed to finish among the top four for Champions League qualification.
Undav opened the scoring in the 12th minute. Nikolas Nartey set up Tiago Tom谩s in the 29th, two minutes before scoring himself to put Stuttgart 3-0 ahead.
Fabian Rieder pulled one back for Augsburg after the break, but Undav replied a minute later to reassert the visitors鈥� dominance.
Anton Kade scored in the 71st for Augsburg and Undav set up Ermedin Demirovi膰 to complete the scoring with a tap-in against his former club in the 83rd.
Stuttgart moved three points clear of Leipzig and Hoffenheim, with Bayer Leverkusen four points further back in sixth.
Where’s G枚tze?
Eintracht Frankfurt dropped World Cup hero Mario G枚tze and lost 2-1 at local rival Mainz in their derby earlier Sunday.
Paul Nebel scored both goals for Mainz, grabbing the winner in the 89th minute to set off wild celebrations and deal Frankfurt its second defeat under new coach Albert Riera.
Nebel opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Nathaniel Brown responded for Frankfurt in the 20th, then Nebel fired home the rebound after Frankfurt 鈥檏eeper Michael Zetterer saved Nelson Weiper鈥檚 header.
G枚tze鈥檚 omission prompted questions for Riera before kickoff, when the Spanish coach asked which of his players should make way for the former Germany star to be in his squad after Arthur Theate, Can Uzun, Younes Ebnoutalib and Ansgar Knauff all recovered from injuries.
鈥淣ame me one player,鈥� Riera challenged his pre-game interviewer on broadcaster DAZN. 鈥淚f I could take 21 players, he鈥檇 be included,鈥� he said. 鈥淢ario also had some physical problems during the week and wasn鈥檛 always at 100%. And I had to make a decision about who the best players for the bench are.鈥�
G枚tze, who scored Germany鈥檚 World Cup-winning goal in 2014, has featured sparingly for Frankfurt this season, making 18 league appearances over 27 rounds and completing only one full Bundesliga game. He didn鈥檛 appear at all in Frankfurt鈥檚 last two games and seems to have lost some standing under Riera compared to the previous coach, Dino Toppm枚ller, who was .
Mainz鈥檚 win lifted it six points above St. Pauli in the relegation zone.
Familiar face thwarts St. Pauli
Igor Matanovi膰 returned to St. Pauli and scored twice for Freiburg to win 2-1 and leave his hometown club stuck in the relegation playoff spot.
Danel Sinani opened the scoring but St. Pauli was unable to add any more, and Matanovi膰 equalized in the 65th before tucking home a rebound for the winner in the 78th. The Croatia forward refused to celebrate out of respect for his former club.
鈥淚 was able to play here for 13 years. I was here as a small kid, I was in the stands, then a ball boy. I really enjoyed being able to play here today,鈥� Matanovi膰 said. 鈥淲hen I came out on the field before everything started, the fans gave me a really warm reception and I appreciate that so much. Yeah, but today I have the Freiburg crest on my chest and I have to give everything for the club and that’s what I did today.鈥�
St. Pauli players wore jerseys in support of 鈥淜ein Bock auf Nazis,鈥� an antifascist group fighting intolerance and right wing ideologies. The slogan loosely means 鈥渃ouldn鈥檛 be bothered with Nazis.鈥�
St. Pauli’s gesture came as the league displayed the slogan 鈥� 鈥� across all games as part of an anti-discrimination campaign.
Also Sunday, after a seven-game winless run, and Borussia after they reached what the club called an 鈥渁micable鈥� decision.
Bayern Munich and is closing in on its 13th German championship in 14 years.
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