Bundesliga: Schalke locks up UCL spot; others in dogfight to avoid relegation
Schalke sealed their place in next season's Champions League with a 2-0 win over Freiburg, courtesy of goals from Kaan Ayhan and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, although the result was soured slightly by a red card for Felipe Santana.
Bayer Leverkusen are favorites to join them in Europe's elite competition after beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 at the Commerzbank Arena.
Goals from Gonzalo Castro and Emre Can earned Sascha Lewandowski's side a crucial three points, keeping them in fourth place ahead of Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach, who also won on Saturday.
Ivica Olic struck late to earn Wolfsburg a 2-1 result at Stuttgart. Kevin De Bruyne had given the Wolves the lead but Christian Gentner levelled for Huub Stevens' men before Olic's decider.
Goals from Martin Stranzl, Max Kruse and Christoph Kramer helped Gladbach see off Mainz 3-1, with the only reply coming from Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting.
Robert Lewandowski waved farewell to Borussia Dortmund fans in his last home match for the club in a 3-2 win over Hoffenheim.
The Polish striker will move to rivals Bayern in the summer, but Lewandowski was given a standing ovation before kick-off and presented with some commemorative gifts.
Despite going behind to Roberto Firmino's early goal, Dortmund prevailed thanks to efforts from Kevin Grosskreutz, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lukasz Piszczek, while Hoffenheim scored a second through Niklas Sule.
Aaron Hunt scored a second-half brace in a 2-0 victory over Hertha Berlin to bring an emotional end to a 13-year association with Werder Bremen.
The 27-year-old midfielder confirmed he will leave for pastures new at the end of the season, but he left Bremen fans with one final memory in their final home match, netting just after the break and in the final moments of this Bundesliga clash.
The battle to avoid the drop will go to the wire in the Bundesliga, with Hamburg, Nurnberg and Eintracht Braunschweig all losing on the penultimate weekend of the season.
Braunschweig continue to prop up the table following a dramatic 1-0 loss at home to Augsburg, with Raul Bobadilla scoring deep into stoppage time to keep the visitors in contention for a Europa League spot.
Nurnberg are just a point better off than the basement side and slipped to a 2-0 home loss to Hannover, with Szabolcs Huszti and Manuel Schmiedebach scoring either side of the half-time.
Hamburg currently occupy the relegation play-off spot but will need to match the results of the teams below them if they are to give themselves a lifeline after crashing to a 4-1 defeat against champions Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Mario Gotze put Bayern in front before Thomas Muller added a second for Pep Guardiola's men.
Gotze raised that to three before Hakan Calhanoglu netted a consolation for Mirko Slomka's men, who conceded once again when Claudio Pizarro wrapped up Bayern's win before Jerome Boateng earned a late red card for the visitors.
