Jeong grabs point for Union against ex-side Stuttgart, Augsburg held

VfB Stuttgart nudged up into the Bundesliga top four but their former player Jeong Woo Yeong snatched a point for visitors Union Berlin in a 1-1 draw on Sunday.

The South Korean substitute refused to celebrate after levelling on 83 minutes after Chris Führich had given the hosts the lead.

Stuttgart, German Cup holders and 2024 runners-up, have become a force again under Sebastian Hoeness having suffered two relegations since their 2007 Bundesliga title.

But inconsistency still dogs Stuttgart and although they are now sit in fourth at the start of the second half of the season, Hoffenheim in third, fifth-placed RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen in sixth all have a game in hand.

Winger Führich, a mainstay of the Germany squad in 2024 before slipping out of consideration, boosted his hopes of a World Cup recall with a fine finish on the hour after a superb run and assist from Ramon Hendriks.

Führich told DAZN: "If we had made it 2-0, we would have won. But we take the point."

Union, in ninth spot, had more shots than the hosts in the opening half and rallied late on to go a fifth game unbeaten including three straight draws.

"We work, we get things done, we plug away - and we keep things in perspective," Union coach Steffen Baumgart said.

Mid-table Freiburg fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Augsburg in a late game which did little to help either side in their bids to push up towards the European places or move away from the drop zone.

Fourth-bottom Augsburg went ahead thanks to two rapid goals early in the second half from Alexis Claude-Maurice and Elvis Rexhbecaj, who only came on after Kristijan Jakic appeared to injure himself on the tunnel steps.

The deflected shot and bullet header woke the visitors up from their slumber. Substitute Yuito Suzuki's volley and Igor Matanović's tap-in after ex-Freiburg man Michael Gregoritsch handled on the line came equally quickly.

Freiburg had a winner ruled out after the ball was adjudged to have gone out of play in the build-up.

On Saturday, Bayern Munich - who welcome Augsburg next weekend - maintained their 11-point lead with a 5-1 comeback win at Leipzig in the main programme of matches.

Friday's action saw Werder Bremen drew 3-3 with Eintracht Frankfurt, who sacked coach Dino Toppmöller on Sunday after wildly inconsistent results.