Freiburg climbed out of the Bundesliga's relegation zone with a 1-0
home win over reigning champion Wolfsburg on Sunday.
Former Wolfsburg player Cedrick Makiadi scored the winner in
the 38th minute for Freiburg, which has now picked up 10 points
from its last four home matches.
Robin Dutt's men jumped to 14th place and have 31 points from
32 matches. They are three points above the relegation zone, with
the teams below them - Hertha Berlin, Hannover, Bochum and
Nuremberg - all losing this weekend.
"We dominated them in this game, even though they had two
good chances at the end. I'm proud of this team," Dutt said.
"This victory does not change our attitude at all. It makes
things a little easier but we still have two very tough matches and
we want to get points from both of them."
Freiburg play Cologne and Borussia Dortmund in the final two
weeks.
Wolfsburg's defeat means it cannot qualify for Europe next
season as it trails sixth-place Stuttgart by seven points with two
games remaining.
"I guess we did not want to play in the Europa League -
that's the only explanation I have for this performance," Wolfsburg
striker Edin Dzeko said.
Wolfsburg coach Lorenz Guenther Koestner added: "We knew this
would be a tough game after the results from the other games this
weekend but that is not an excuse. We woke up too late after not
playing at all in the first half."
In Sunday's other game, Vedad Ibisevic and Chinedu Obasi both
scored twice to guide Hoffenheim to a convincing 5-1 victory over
10-man Hamburg.
Hamburg, which plays Fulham on Thursday in the second leg of
their Europa League semifinal, conceded twice in the opening 11
minutes as Ibisevic grabbed an early brace.
Robert Tesche's goal for Hamburg sandwiched strikes by Obasi
before Sejad Salihovic added a fifth for Hoffenheim.
Tolgay Arslan was shown the red card in the 89th minute for
Hamburg, which remains in seventh place with 48 points. Hoffenheim
is in 11th place, with results on Saturday securing its status in
the top flight for another season.
"We wanted to put Hamburg under pressure right away, and we
did that," said Ibisevic, whose team ended a seven-match winless
streak in which they scored only two goals.
Hamburg was playing three days after being held 0-0 by Fulham
in the first leg of its European semifinal.
Striker Mladen Petric said: "I'm without words - we wanted to
do something today. But it was tough to come out and then concede a
goal right away at a time when we are not in the best of spirits."
In the second division, the 1997-98 Bundesliga champions
Kaiserslautern secured promotion to Germany's top flight after a
four-year absence thanks to Augsberg's 1-1 draw at FSV Frankfurt.
