Bayer Leverkusen rejoined the fight for a Champions League qualifying berth on Sunday with a 2-0 win at VfB Stuttgart that saw them break back into the German Bundesliga’s top six.
Goals by Julian Brandt and Karim Bellarabi handed Leverkusen a win that put them level on points with fifth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach and two points behind Schalke, who sit in the fourth place that offers a spot in next season’s Champions League play-offs.
Germany Under-21 star Brandt gave the vistors the lead at Stuttgart’s Mercedes Benz Arena on 11 minutes when he finished off a flowing attack.
Bellarabi celebrated his call-up to the Germany squad for the forthcoming internationals against England and Italy by adding Leverkusen’s second on 49 minutes.
Brandt, 19, could have claimed his second of the game, but his shot hit the post when he got away from the Stuttgart defence with an hour gone.
On Saturday, Robert Lewandowski’s 25th league goal of the season gave leaders Bayern Munich a 1-0 win at Cologne that put them eight pointws clear at the top of the table before Borussia Dortmund, in second, go to strugglers Augsburg later on Sunday.
Hertha Berlin remain on course to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 1999/2000 after a 2-1 victory over Ingolstadt in the capital kept them four points clear of Schalke in third.
Wolfsburg, who will face Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals next month, needed a last-minute Andre Schuerrle equaliser to grab a 1-1 draw at home to Darmstadt as they stay eighth.
In the battle to avoid relegation, Hoffenheim claimed a precious 3-1 win at Hamburg while Eintracht Frankfurt beat Hanover 96 1-0 to leave their opponents 10 points adrift at the bottom.
AFP
