'New dad' Mueller stars in Bayern romp

Inspired by the birth of a foal, Thomas Mueller led Bayern Munich to a 4-0 win at Freiburg that stretched the German Bundesliga pace setters' lead to 20 points with only nine rounds to play.

"My first foal of the season came into the world yesterday evening, so I practically became a new father," Mueller said.

"So I was accordingly pretty motivated."

Two goals in three minutes set Bayern on course for a 20th win in 25 games, seemingly just a matter of time before the Bavarian powerhouse wrap up their record-extending sixth consecutive title.

Mueller was at the heart of Bayern's first goal on 25 minutes when the Bayern forward's effort ricocheted off Freiburg defender Caglar Soyuncu and goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow to go in.

Corentin Tolisso hammered a brilliant shot inside the top right corner from distance three minutes later.

Sandro Wagner, playing in place of the rested Robert Lewandowski, killed any notion of a contest early in the second half after being set up by Mueller.

It was then Mueller's turn to get his name on the score sheet with the fourth goal - a half-volley from Joshua Kimmich's corner at the near post - on 69 minutes.

Cologne's slim hopes of survival took a hit as Stuttgart came from behind to win 3-2 on an afternoon to forget for goalkeeper Timo Horn.

Veteran striker Claudio Pizarro fired Cologne into an early lead.

Yuya Osako had a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee after goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler was adjudged to have control of the ball before Vincent Koziello kicked it out of his hands.

It went from bad to worse for Cologne just before the break when Mario Gomez equalised against the run of play, and then scored again when Horn let his harmless shot slip through his arms.

"I'm not making any excuses. It's a ball that a goalkeeper should get. It's brutal, especially after such a good first half," Horn said.

Andreas Beck made it 3-1 early in the second half, when again Horn looked far from impressive.

Milos Jojic got the home fans going again when he scored late with a fine free kick but Cologne fell short as Stuttgart held on to climb to ninth.

Cologne remain bottom with just four wins, eight points from safety.