Stuttgart missed the chance to claim a vital win in the battle to avoid relegation as Freiburg fought back from two goals behind to claim a 2-2 draw.

The host were on top for much of the early stages, but their first clear chance did not arrive until midway through the first half when Martin Harnik forced Roman Burki into a fine save with a low strike.

However, their pressure was rewarded when some poor marking allowed the returning Daniel Ginczek to beat the offside trap before picking out the bottom corner.

Stuttgart's lead was doubled just three minutes later when Filip Kostic collected the ball out wide and found Harnik, who took a touch before firing past a helpless Burki.

Freiburg offered very little going forward in the first half, and they were fortunate not to concede again as Stuttgart piled the pressure on just before the break.

Harnik had the chance to score his second of the afternoon when Alexandru Maxim played the inch-perfect through ball into his path, but a poor touch allowed the visitors to recover.

Freiburg were then gifted a way back into the match when Adam Hlousek brought down Jonathan Schmid, and Nils Petersen capitalised to convert the penalty.

The nerves were soon clear when Hlousek picked up his second yellow card to leave Stuttgart to finish the rest of the game with 10 men.

Stuttgart survived long spells of pressure, but their resistance was broken in the 85th minute when a corner caused problems for the defence, allowing Petersen to fire home the loose ball and send Freiburg two points clear of the Bundesliga bottom three.