Late Mueller goal earns Bayern win at Stuttgart

A late Thomas Mueller goal and a stoppage-time penalty save by Sven Ulreich gave Bayern Munich a nervous 1-0 victory at VfB Stuttgart Saturday to go into the winter break with an 11-point lead. Borussia Dortmund also made sure of a happy Bundesliga break, coming from a goal down to beat Hoffenheim 2-1 thanks to Christian Pulisic's superb 89th-minute winner, for their second straight victory under new coach Peter Stoeger. Bayern, who face Dortmund in the German Cup Wednesday, were again far from effective and looked somewhat surprised by the level of resistance offered by Stuttgart.

.@A_Finnbogason becomes the third player to reach double figures for the season, but @lewy_official and @Aubameyang7 still lead the way ? pic.twitter.com/bRNISQOjJr

— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) December 16, 2017

Their opponent gradually ran out of steam after the hour, however, and Bayern started creating more chances through Corentin Tolisso and Kingsley Coman. Frenchman Coman found Mueller in the box and the striker fired in from a tight corner to beat Ron-Robert Zieler in the 79th minute. Bayern then survived the late penalty scare with Ulreich denying the host. The win lifted Bayern to 41 points, with second-placed Schalke 04 rescuing a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt to move on to 30.

A familiar face back in the top four, while @fckoeln_en can spend Christmas dreaming of the great escape ?️‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/i1o5kjqh0a

— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) December 16, 2017

RB Leipzig, on 28 can overtake Schalke 04 Sunday, when they take on Hertha Berlin. Dortmund's Pulisic picked up a Shinji Kagawa cross and passed from one foot to the other, before volleying in the winner to lift his team to third on 28 points. Hoffenheim had taken the lead with Mark Uth but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's penalty in the 63rd minute had drawn Dortmund level.

Let today be a lesson to you all ?‍?

Never leave a #Bundesliga game early ☝️ pic.twitter.com/f38WLpeUfK — Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) December 16, 2017

Bottom club Cologne beat VfL Wolfsburg 1-0, celebrating their first win of the season, while lowly Werder Bremen squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 against relegation rival Mainz 05. RESULTS Cologne 1 (Clemens 67) Wolfsburg 0 Bremen 2 (Bargfrede 2, Belfodil 17) Mainz 2 (Quaison 70, Frei 90+3) Frankfurt 2 (Jovic 2, Haller 66) Schalke 2 (Embolo 82, Naldo 90+5) Augsburg 3 (Finnbogason 1, 90+1, 90+3) Freiburg 3 (Guenter 20, Petersen 48, 65) Stuttgart 0 Bayern 1 (Mueller 79) Dortmund 2 (Aubameyang 63-P, Pulisic 89) Hoffenheim 1 (Uth 21)   SUNDAY'S MATCHES Hanover v Leverkusen and Leipzig v Hertha