Schwaben win again

Markus Babbel's VfB Stuttgart continued their remarkable turnaround with a 3-0 victory over Köln with all three goals coming from Mario Gómez. The victory brings die Schwaben six points behind first-place Wolfsburg and open up a five point advantage on Schalke 04 for the final Europa League spot.

Despite the win Markus Babbel was not overly pleased with the performance saying:

"I'm very satisfied with the result - but not at all with the first half! We played terribly and got really lucky, Köln had a couple of great chances. The second half was quite alright. We were more solid at the back and took the chances we created. We still want to defend fifth spot - the team have worked very hard to get this far. The win today was very important for us. Our goal is to keep the teams behind us at a distance."

Gómez's first of the day came sixteen minutes in from as he headed-in Roberto Hilbert cross in from the six-yard box. However Köln continued to fight back and after a number of chances were denied but the number 1, Jens Lehmann, Gómez got his second of the day ten minutes after the break when Cacau fed him a perfect set-up for a professionals close out. Sixteen minutes later, VfB was definitely anxious to get Gómez his third of the day and as Thomas Hitzlsperger through ball found Sami Khedira, he neatly shifted to the striker to once again close out.