FRANKFURT: Eintracht Frankfurt’s Ajdin Hrustic scored an 86th-minute goal to rescue a 1-1 draw against visiting Mainz 05 on Sunday and retain some hope of a top-four finish and a spot in next season’s Champions League.

The result meant Frankfurt dropped to fifth but made sure second-placed RB Leipzig were guaranteed a spot in the Champions League.

Karim Onisiwo rifled in a low shot in the 11th minute to put Mainz in front against their lacklustre hosts.

Frankfurt rarely threatened and had to wait until five minutes from the end when Australian Hrustic’s first shot was blocked but the midfielder, lying on the ground, spectacularly chipped his rebound over the keeper for the equaliser.

Eintracht, however, dropped to fifth place on 57 points, one behind Borussia Dortmund, 3-2 winners over Leipzig on Saturday, and three off third-placed VfL Wolfsburg.

Bayern Munich on Saturday clinched their ninth successive league title with a 6-0 demolition of Borussia Moenchengladbach leaving them 10 points clear of Leipzig, who have 64.

Having pulled seven points clear of Dortmund in April, Frankfurt have seen their Champions League prospects fade with just one win in their last four games.

“You could say the momentum is with Dortmund now. It’s no longer in our hands, but everything is still possible. We have to keep believing,” Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp told Sky.

At the other end of the table, strugglers Cologne had an injury-time equaliser ruled out through VAR before Freiburg scored twice to win 4-1.

Jan Thielmann thought hed made it 2-2 in the 91st minute to earn Cologne what could be a vital point in their bid to avoid relegation, but a VAR review ruled that the ball came off captain Jonas Hector’s upper arm when setting him up.

There was still time for Vincenzo Grifo and Jonathan Schmid to score two more for the visitors to leave Cologne second last in an automatic relegation spot with two rounds remaining.

Ondrej Duda should have equalised earlier for Cologne, but he slipped as he was taking a penalty and sent the spot kick over.

Defeat saw Cologne miss the chance to leapfrog Arminia Bielefeld and Hertha Berlin, who held each other to a goalless draw in Sunday’s late game.

Despite several chances in the first half, Bielefeld were unable to lift themselves off the relegation play-off place as they battled to a point in the capital.

They are now level on 31 points with both Werder Bremen and Hertha, who have a game in hand and a chance to pull clear when they play Schalke 04 on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2021