Wolfsburg all but mathematically secured their place in the Champions League next season with a 3-1 win over Stuttgart which leaves the Swabians rooted to the foot of the Bundesliga.
Two goals from Ricardo Rodriguez and Andre Schurrle's first goal for the Wolves allowed Dieter Hecking's men to establish a comfortable advantage over fifth-placed Schalke while keeping up the pressure on league leaders Bayern Munich.
Martin Harnik's header was merely a consolation for Huub Stevens' men, whose survival hopes suffered another setback.
There was an early let-off for Stuttgart when an unmarked Luiz Gustavo failed to connect with Robin Knoche's header.
The visitors responded with a good chance of their own through Filip Kostic, who sent his shot wide with only Diego Benaglio to beat.
Stuttgart were not without their chances, but a foul by Florian Klein on Daniel Caligiuri inside the penalty area in the 40th minute saw them come undone with Rodriguez sending Sven Ulreich the wrong way from the spot.
Their response was exemplary, though, with Harnik levelling three minutes later, heading in Kostic's cross for a deserved equaliser.
The second half was more one-sided, though, with Wolfsburg finally getting the measure of their guests and raising the pressure bit by bit before Rodriguez curled his free-kick past Ulreich, who appeared to be put off by Naldo's attempted header.
Schurrle then opened his Wolfsburg account with some route one stuff, Benaglio's punt forward picked up eventually by Kevin De Bruyne, who laid the ball off for the former Chelsea man to lift his effort past Ulreich.
There were chances for a fourth, but Wolfsburg lost their bite in the final minutes, preferring instead to save energy for a DFB-Pokal quarter-final in midweek.
Bayer Leverkusen 4 - 0 Hamburg
Bayer Leverkusen made it a debut to forget for new Hamburg coach Peter Knabel, thrashing the northern Germany side 4-0 at the BayArena.
Two goals each from Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kiessling earned Roger Schmidt's men a comfortable Bundesliga win which keeps them on course for a berth in the Champions League next season.
It could have been much worse for Hamburg, who now have only seven games remaining to find a way of preserving their top-flight status.
With new coach Knabel sat on the bench for the first time, Hamburg were hoping for a significant change in their fortunes - but they instead found themselves up against it from the very first minute.
Leverkusen were not in a very sympathetic mood, with a wave of early attacks showing they meant business.
It took them just seven minutes for one of those attacks to result in a goal.
Bellarabi and Castro made the most of a weak pass from Hamburg defender Johan Djourou and the latter capitalised by finding the net.
A deflected effort from Tin Jedvaj almost doubled Leverkusen's lead as the hosts continued to assert their authority, visibly keen to wrap up victory as quickly as possible.
Kiessling doubled the lead just before half-time, with the German forward's spectacular diving header from Castro's cross giving Leverkusen a cushion at the interval.
Worse was to come for Hamburg just 10 minutes into the second half when Kiessling got his second and Leverkusen's third.
Castro was again involved, although his shot was saved by Rene Adler before Kiessling converted the rebound.
Castro saw a shot deflected just over the crossbar, before he got a deserved second from Bellarabi's pass.
Leverkusen still did not show any sympathy for the struggling visitors, Kyriakos Papadopoulos heading against the post.
Josip Drmic also wasted a good opportunity as Leverkusen threatened to run riot, but they had to settle for four goals - and three more points in their quest for a top-four finish.
Hoffenheim 1-4 Moenchengladbach
Borussia Monchengladbach kept up their push for a place in the Champions League next season with a convincing 4-1 win at Hoffenheim, whose own European hopes were dealt a blow.
Sven Schipplock gave the hosts the lead somewhat against the run of play, but Max Kruse levelled from the penalty spot before Patrick Herrmann gave Gladbach the lead.
Raffael added a third before Herrmann struck again to keep Lucien Favre's men two points clear of fourth-placed Leverkusen, who also won on Saturday.
Gladbach were on the front foot from the off in Sinsheim with Herrmann, fresh from signing a new contract until 2019, leading their early attacks.
Hoffenheim resisted and took the lead against the run of play in the 17th minute when Brazil international Roberto Firmino squared for Schipplock to finish off a counter-attack that even Gladbach would have been proud of.
Herrmann thought he had levelled within five minutes, but his goal was ruled out by the referee amid confusion from the players, with no offside flag raised.
All was revealed during the minutes in which David Abraham was receiving treatment for a clash with Fabian Johnson in the build-up to the goal, as the referee ultimately pointed to the penalty spot.
Kruse sent Oliver Baumann the wrong way and Gladbach were indeed on level terms.
Granit Xhaka struck the outside of the right-hand post as the visitors increased the pressure, taking the lead after half an hour with Herrmann this time not denied his goal from Oscar Wendt's cross.
Five minutes later, Raffael added a third from Kruse's pass - a third goal in 10 minutes effectively killing Hoffenheim off.
Herrmann wiped away any remaining doubts just five minutes into the second half when he netted his second and Gladbach's fourth with Kruse once again the provider in what was turning into something of a show from the Foals.
Hoffenheim tried to salvage some pride, but they were up against a Gladbach side who did not want to give an inch.
Freiburg 1-0 Cologne
Freiburg picked up their third win of the season over Cologne to put a bit of breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone on Saturday.
Mike Frantz scored the only goal of the game to secure Freiburg's second win in a row and take them above Hannover in the standings, three points ahead of 16th-placed Hamburg and just two points adrift of their guests.
Having already beaten them away from home and in the DFB-Pokal, victory crowned a hat-trick of wins for Freiburg over Cologne this season.
With Cologne drawing 0-0 seven times already this season, few would really have expected an exciting goal fest at the Dreisamstadion, and at least that ensured few would have been particularly disappointed with what quickly became a scrappy affair.
Eintracht Frankfurt 2-2 Hannover
Struggling Hannover came from two goals down to grab a 2-2 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday and relieve some of the pressure on their coach Tayfun Korkut.
Alexander Madlung and Stefan Aigner gave the Eagles a two-goal cushion which looked like it would be good enough for all three points, but Marcelo brought Hannover back into the game before Didier Ya Konan levelled late on.
Although the draw means Hannover are still without a win in 2015, the manner in which it came about will make it feel like a victory at the Waldstadion.
Hannover coach Korkut had been given a vote of confidence prior to the game with club president Martin Kind saying he was "convinced" he was the right man to guide them to safety.
That faith did not seem all that misplaced either as the Reds took the game to their hosts, creating the first big opening of the game in the 14th minute when Edgar Prib only had Kevin Trapp to beat, but the Frankfurt custodian made himself big and came out on top.
Werder Bremen 0-0 Mainz
Werder Bremen missed an opportunity to put some pressure on the top six in the Bundesliga as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Mainz on Saturday.
There were chances at both ends in an open encounter at the Weserstadion, but neither could find a route to goal with the point a fair reflection.
Mainz will be happier with the draw as the point reinforces their advantage over the relegation zone, particularly with most teams below them losing on Saturday.
