BERLIN: Borussia Moenchengladbach secured a Champions League group stage place for the first time after two goals from Raffael secured a 2-0 win over Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

With one game left, third-placed Gladbach cannot be caught by the team below them Bayer Leverkusen.

Brazilian Raffael scrambled in the opener from Max Kruse’s cutback in the 53rd minute and added a second five minutes from time to lift Gladbach to 66 points with Bayer Leverkusen on 61 after beating Hoffenheim 2-0.

Schalke 04 made sure of European football next season after an 88th minute own goal by Paderborn’s Uwe Huenemeier put them through to the Europa League and left Paderborn rooted to the foot of the table.

Champions Bayern suffered a shock 2-1 loss at strugglers Freiburg after former Bayern player Nils Petersen, who had come off the bench, struck against the run of play in the 89th minute.

It was the Bavarians’ third straight loss in the league and comes hot on the heels of their midweek Champions League exit to Barcelona.

Former champions VfB Stuttgart came from a goal down to beat fellow relegation candidates Hamburg SV 2-1 to grab a lifeline as they climbed out of last place and up to 16th.

Gojko Kacar fired Hamburg ahead but Stuttgart roared back with two goals in eight minutes from Christian Gentner and Martin Harnik.

Stuttgart are on 33 points with Hamburg, the only club to have played every season in the Bundesliga since its creation in 1963, in 17th place on 32 and facing the prospect of going down next week.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2015

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