European football: Borussia Dortmund close in on Champions League spot | Borussia Dortmund

Targets from Serhou Guirassy and Maximilian Beier took Borussia Dortmund to a 2-1 win at Cologne, tightening their grip on Champions League qualification. Dortmund’s pulsating 3-2 residence loss to Bayern Munich final week ended their slim Bundesliga title hopes. Saturday’s win took second-placed Dortmund eight away from fifth-placed RB Leipzig.

Beier teed up Guirassy after 16 minutes, floating a ball over the Cologne defence for the Guinean to attain his twelfth Bundesliga purpose this season.

The hosts’ hopes of combating their method again dimmed simply earlier than half-time when Jahmai Simpson-Pusey planted his studs in Beier’s heel and Daniel Siebert upgraded his yellow card to crimson after the video assistant referee really useful a evaluate.

Beier was within the thick of issues once more when he swept residence on the hour mark. Jakub Kaminski scored a late comfort for the hosts however Dortmund held on for his or her first league victory since mid-February.

Bayer Leverkusen got here from behind twice however gave up the lead late to attract 3-3 at Freiburg, days out from their Champions League conflict with Arsenal. Leverkusen host the Champions League favourites on Wednesday within the first leg of their last-16 tie however Saturday’s wild draw could harm their possibilities of reaching subsequent 12 months’s competitors. The outcome leaves Leverkusen sixth, shedding floor on their top-four rivals Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, who each gained.

Freiburg twice went forward due to targets from Vincenzo Grifo and Yuito Suzuki however Leverkusen twice equalised by way of Christian Kofane and one other very good free-kick from Alejandro Grimaldo. Martin Terrier’s purpose had the guests on monitor for victory however Matthias Ginter struck with 4 minutes remaining to degree issues up.

RB Leipzig additionally appeared set to drop factors within the top-four race however compelled Augsburg’s Arthur Chaves right into a stoppage-time personal purpose in a comeback 2-1 residence win. Robin Fellhauer gave Augsburg the lead after teammate Keven Schlotterbeck missed a penalty however Yan Diomande pulled one again for the hosts earlier than Chaves scuffed a David Raum cross into his personal web.

Leipzig’s win took them to fifth, degree on factors with fourth-placed Stuttgart, who drew 2-2 at lowly Mainz. Stuttgart fell behind to a Jae-Sung Lee strike however appeared to have turned the match with targets to Ermedin Demirovic and Deniz Undav inside 61 seconds, earlier than Danny da Costa nabbed a late equaliser for the hosts.

Hoffenheim took a step in direction of a second ever Champions League qualification with a 4-2 win at all-time low Heidenheim to remain in outright third. Alexander Prass bagged a first-half brace and Fisnik Asllani and Tim Lemperle scored for the guests, whereas Luca Kerber scored a double for Heidenheim.

Hamburg got here from a purpose all the way down to win 2-1 at Wolfsburg, with all three targets coming from the penalty spot. Pissed off followers threw flaming scarves on to the pitch after the defeat, which pushes second-last Wolfsburg, who have been German champions in 2009, nearer to a first-ever relegation.

In the meantime, Manuel Neuer will miss Bayern Munich’s Champions League last-16 conflict with Atalanta on Tuesday after choosing up one other calf harm. Bayern mentioned their captain and goalkeeper suffered a “minor muscle tear” through the 4-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach within the Bundesliga on Friday.

Bayern, the runaway leaders, didn’t give a timeframe on Saturday for his return however Bild reported Neuer will probably be out for 2 weeks. Meaning he would miss each legs towards Atalanta in addition to the Bundesliga match at Bayer Leverkusen.

Afterward Saturday, Juventus tackle a Pisa facet all however assured to be relegated, needing a win to maintain up their hopes of fourth place and a Champions League place.

In Spain, Barcelona go to Athletic Bilbao within the late recreation.