Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt secured berths in the Champions League as the Bundesliga season reached its dramatic climax on Saturday, with Heidenheim confirmed in the relegation play-off spot.
Frankfurt won 3-1 at rivals Freiburg and Dortmund eased past already-relegated Holstein Kiel 3-0 thanks to Serhou Guirassy, Marcel Sabitzer and Felix Nmecha, leaving Freiburg in a Europa League spot having yet again narrowly missed out on the Champions League.
Dortmund have rocketed up the table in recent weeks under Niko Kovač having been 11th when he was appointed in January.
"If you had said in March that we would be in the Champions League, people would have said you were stupid. We are very, very happy," Dortmund captain Emre Can told Sky.
"Mentality has been key. Niko is someone who cares about the small details," Can added. "He is a bit old school. He has really helped."
Mainz edged RB Leipzig to the Conference League slot after a 2-2 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen sealed by Jonathan Burkardt's penalty.
Leipzig will not be in Europe for the first time since their Bundesliga debut in 2016-17 following a shock 3-2 home defeat by mid-table VfB Stuttgart, who can grab a Europa League spot by beating third-tier Arminia Bielefeld in next Saturday's German Cup final.
Heidenheim needed a large goal difference swing to pull St Pauli or Hoffenheim into trouble and avoid finishing third-bottom in the play-off spot. The 4-1 home defeat by mid-table Werder Bremen made any mathematics irrelevant.
St Pauli lost 2-0 at home to already-relegated Bochum and hosts Hoffenheim were beaten 4-0 by long-crowned champions Bayern Munich, whose departing veteran Thomas Müller played what is set to be his last Bundesliga game.
Heidenheim will face the third-placed team in the second tier – currently Elversberg – over two legs on Thursday and the following Monday for a place in next season's Bundesliga.
SV Hamburg have already secured promotion and Cologne are favourites to join them on the second-tier's final day on Sunday.
In two games with nothing to play for, Borussia Mönchengladbach were undone 1-0 at home by Wolfsburg while Union Berlin overcame Augsburg 2-1 away in storied referee Felix Brych's last game.
Roller-coaster day in top four
Dortmund took the lead from the spot in just the third minute through Guirassy's 21st goal of the league season after Lewis Holtby felled Nmecha. Freiburg's match had not even kicked off when news filtered through of Dortmund's early goal.
It soon got better for the Black and Yellows when Kiel's Carl Johannsson was sent off for a professional foul on just nine minutes.
Ritsu Dōan then volleyed Freiburg ahead on 27 minutes against potential next club Frankfurt, which at that stage would have left Dortmund out of the top four on goal difference.
Frankfurt then struck on the stroke of half-time through Ansgar Knauff for 1-1, at that point dumping Freiburg into fifth.
Sabitzer scored early in the second half from the edge of the area to give Dortmund a 2-0 lead, meaning the hosts' goal difference would also boost them if Freiburg netted again.
But it was Frankfurt who pulled away through Rasmus Kristensen and a controversial third from Ellyes Skhiri.
Dortmund then completed a remarkable season turnaround thanks to Nmecha's classy finish.
Mainz had three goals ruled out in the first half before Paul Nebel's deflected effort counted against Leverkusen. But Patrick Schick levelled with a penalty in Xabi Alonso's last game in charge of the runners-up before an expected move to Real Madrid.
Schick scored again but Burkardt was Mainz's saviour like so often this term, with Stuttgart also doing them a favour.
- Dortmund
- Frankfurt
- Champions League
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
