Hamburg avoid their first-ever Bundesliga relegation — for the time being at least
FRANKFURT: Hamburg staved off the immediate threat of relegation for the first time in the history of the German Bundesliga after a 2-0 win over Schalke on the final day of term secured a play-off opportunity to avoid the drop.
Ivica Olic and Slobodan Rajkovic eased a tense afternoon in northern Germany with two goals in 10 second-half minutes as Hamburg climbed above Freiburg into 16th place and saved their top-flight status at least for a few more weeks.
Defeat cost Schalke their fifth place in the final Bundesliga standings, meaning they may now need to get through a qualifying round for the group stage of next season’s Europa League.
Freiburg and Paderborn were both sent tumbling through the trapdoor to the second tier.
Freiburg lost 2-1 to Hannover, who had fears of the drop themselves before kick-off.
Hiroshi Kiyotake put Freiburg in front early on and a late own goal from Pavel Krmas secured their top-flight status. A late Nils Petersen consolation was not enough to prevent Christian Streich’s Freiburg from relegation.
Paderborn went down after a 2-1 home defeat to a Stuttgart side who were also not safe at the start of the day, but whose win carried them up to 14th place.
Marc Vucinovic gave Paderborn the lead in the fourth minute with a goal which temporarily took his side above their guests and to safety.
However, Stuttgart’s overall superiority finally shone through with Daniel Didavi levelling and Daniel Ginczek netting a valuable winner in the 72nd minute to take the Swabians out of the bottom two and to safety.
Other rsults among their fellow strugglers meant Hertha Berlin also survived despite losing 2-1 at Hoffenheim, whose goals came from Anthony Modeste and Roberto Firmino. Roy Beerens scored for Hertha.
Bayern Munich celebrated their third straight Bundesliga title after beating Mainz 2-0 at the Allianz Arena.
A Robert Lewandowski penalty and Bastian Schweinsteiger goal gave Pep Guardiola’s men control of the game in front of 75,000 fans, before they were handed the league trophy and the party in Munich began.
The title was already secure before kick-off, as was Mainz’s mid-table security.
Jurgen Klopp said an emotional farewell to theBorussia Dortmund fans in his last Bundesliga match in charge of the club with a 3-2 win over Werder Bremen earning them a place in the Europa League next season.
Shinji Kagawa and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck in quick succession inside the opening 17 minutes to put Dortmund on their way to victory. Levin Oztunali pulled a goal back for Bremen, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan restored the hosts’ two-goal advantage before the interval.
A Theodor Gebre Selassie goal made things interesting late on, but Bremen could not find an equaliser.
Augsburg clinched a Europa League place and fifth position by beating third-placed Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 with goals from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Tim Matavz and Sascha Molders. Raffael had given Gladbach a first-half lead before they were overwhelmed after the break.
Wolfsburg finished as runners-up to Bayern as they wrapped up their campaign with a 2-2 draw at Cologne, while Eintracht Frankfurt ended the season with a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
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