PADERBORN (Germany): VFB Stuttgart’s Daniel Ginczek celebrates scoring a goal against SC Paderborn during their Bundesliga match on Saturday.—Reuters

BERLIN: SC Paderborn and Freiburg were relegated from the Bundesliga on the last day of the season on Saturday, while Hamburg clinched the relegation playoff spot and VfB Stuttgart stayed up.

Daniel Ginczek was the hero for Stuttgart, scoring in the 72nd minute for a 2-1 win over Paderborn that left the home side bottom and saved his own.

Freiburg lost 2-1 at Hanover 96, who stayed up through Japan midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake’s third-minute header and an 84th-minute own goal from Pavel Krmas. Nils Petersen’s injury-time strike was too late for Freiburg.

Hamburg, the only team never to have been relegated from the Bundesliga, have another chance to remain in the topflight after second-half goals from Ivica Olic and Slobodan Rajkovic secured a 2-0 win over Schalke 04 at home.

Hamburg now face a two-legged playoff against the third-placed finisher from the second division to determine which side plays in the top flight next season.

Borussia Dortmund defeated Werder Bremen 3-2 in coach Juergen Klopp’s last home game to qualify for the Europa League.

Japan midfielder Shinji Kagawa opened the scoring after a great run from Ilkay Gundogan in the 15th and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang — who earlier hit the post — made it 2-0 two minutes later.

Levin Oztunali pulled one back with his first goal for Bremen in the 26th, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan made it 3-1 on a counterattack in the 42nd after controlling Kagawa’s looped cross and finishing with confidence.

Theodor Gebre Selassie’s 85th-minute goal proved just a consolation for Bremen, who slipped to 10th place.

Dortmund finished seventh, enough for the Europa League even if they lose the German Cup final against VfL Wolfsburg next Saturday. The winner qualifies for Europe.

Wolfsburg have already qualified for the Champions League so if they win the final, the extra qualification place goals to the seventh-place finisher in the league.

Bayern Munich, who clinched the title with four games to spare, ended their three-game losing streak with a 2-0 win over visiting Mainz.

Robert Lewandowski scored a penalty in the 25th for his 17th goal of the season, two off Alexander Meier’s total for Eintracht Frankfurt. Meier, currently injured, finished as the league’s top-scorer.

Bastian Schweinsteiger celebrated his 500th competitive game for Bayern by scoring in the 48th, and Bayern was presented with the “salad bowl” league trophy after the game.

Also, Wolfsburg drew 2-2 at Cologne to finish second, third-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach lost 3-1 at Augsburg, who finished fifth, and fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen lost 2-1 at Frankfurt, who finished ninth.

Hoffenheim defeated Hertha Berlin 2-1 at home. Hertha finished level on points with Hamburg but out of the relegation zone on goal difference.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2015

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