Stuttgart beat Mainz to underline Champions League bid; Cologne draw

VfB Stuttgart rebounded from mid-week German Cup heartbreak with a comfortable 3-1 Bundesliga victory over lowly Mainz on Sunday to underline their Champions League ambitions.

Maximilian Mittelstädt opened the scoring into the far corner off Stenzel's cross from the right, and three minutes later Stenzel also set up Jamie Leweling for the second.

Both goals came at the start of 15 minutes of first half stoppage time, given after fans had thrown tennis balls and other objects onto the pitch in ongoing protests against plans of the German Football League to bring in a strategic partner.

Deniz Undav fired the third in the 73rd for a season tally of 14 after controlling a pass well with his chest and beating a defender. Ludovic Ajorque headed the consolation goal for Mainz three minutes later.

Stuttgart lost a German Cup quarter-final 3-2 at Bayer Leverkusen in the final minute on Tuesday but showed a strong reaction in the league where they are are third in an impressive season and eyeing a top four finish for a Champions League berth.

"I dpon't care how many goals I have, the main thing is that we got the three points. We had to show a reaction after the Leverkusen game," Undav told streaming portal DAZN.

"We always want to win, we have a clear idea how we play and we are playing outstanding football. Everything is coming together at the moment."

Stuttgart are six points ahead of fifth-placed RB Leipzig. Leverkusen lead the way five points clear of Bayern Munich after beating them 3-0 in a table topper on Saturday.

Mainz in second last are four points behind Cologne in the relegation play-off spot after Cologne had to swallow a stoppage time 1-1 equalizer at mid-table Hoffenhein from Andrej Kramaric after leading from Max Finkgräfe's curling free-kick in the 79th minute.

Union Berlin in safe 15th are nine points above Mainz whose sporting director Martin Schmidt would not back coach Jan Siewert and announced a thorough analysis after a winless run reached 11 games and the team only has one season victory overall.

"We will sit down and see what the next steps will be. It is clear that we can't continue like this. We need victories. You can see that we need to change some things," Schmidt said.