Bundesliga round-up: Alfred Finnbogason nets Augsburg hat-trick

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Alfred Finnbogason scored a hat-trick for Augsburg in the Bundesliga
Augsburg striker Alfred Finnbogason scored a hat-trick and had a fourth ruled out for offside as he led his team to a crucial 3-0 win over Mainz on Sunday.

Finnbogason put his side ahead in the eighth minute, converting a penalty after Mainz defender Daniel Brosinski's handball.

He doubled the lead in the 34th minute, again converting from the penalty spot, again from a handball. Mainz's Moussa Niakhate was the culprit this time around, the lowlight of a tough day for the French defender.

The Icelander's penalty was his ninth from nine attempts in the Bundesliga and he almost added a third - this time from general play - in first-half injury time.

He got his boot on a cross from Konstantinos Stafylidis, but was denied by an excellent save from Mainz goalkeeper Florian Mueller.

However, the striker didn't have to wait long to get his third, converting a perfectly-weighted assist from Jan Moravek past Mueller. It was his fourth hat-trick since joining Augsburg in 2016.

Finnbogason put a fourth in the net in the 61st minute with a calm flick past the keeper, but the goal was ruled out for offside, with the win giving Augburg a valuable four-point buffer from the relegation zone.

Florian Niederlechner's scrappy goal in the last minute of stoppage time earned Freiburg a 2-2 draw at Stuttgart in Sunday's Baden-Wurttemberg derby.

The result gave the visitors a valuable point to sit in 13th, three ahead of Stuttgart who remain in the relegation play-off position.

Florian Niederlechner snatched a late equaliser for Freiburg
Freiburg took the lead early through Janik Haberer, who guided the ball into the bottom corner of the net after a superbly weighted assist from Nils Petersen.

Mario Gomez was subbed on at half-time in search of a second-half equaliser, but Stuttgart's first goal came through an unlikely source in left-back Emiliano Insua in the 75th minute.

The Argentine - who scored the equaliser in the teams' clash earlier in the season - drove the ball through a congested penalty box and past 'keeper Alexander Schwolow.

The home side went ahead just eight minutes later through Daniel Didavi, who hammered the ball home in the bottom left-hand corner after being left unmarked in front of goal.

In the 89th minute, Gomez was sent from the field after picking up a second yellow card for a stray elbow, although replays indicated that the World Cup winner was the victim of a poor decision from the referee.

With the clock winding down, Freiburg's Niederlechner scored the leveller in the 94th minute of time added on. Jerome Gondorf teed up the newly substituted Niederlechner who put the ball past an indecisive Ron-Robert Zieler.