Wolfsburg win seals Champions League berth

Dutch striker Bas Dost scored twice as VfL Wolfsburg secured next season's Champions League berth following a six-year absence after their 3-1 league win over relegation-threatened Paderborn on Sunday.

Dost's double leaves him with 19 goals in all competitions to fire Wolfsburg back up to second.

With two games left they can finish no lower than third in Germany's top flight to qualify directly for the Champions League.

Wolves picked up their first win in four league games when Swiss defender Timm Klose headed home on 16 minutes before Dost netted nine minutes later by meeting Ivan Perisic's cross at the near post.

The 25-year-old showed his predatory skills by pouncing on a parried save eight minutes from time to slot home his second.

Paderborn pulled a goal back when midfielder Lukas Rupp hit the top right-hand corner with a speculative shot on the edge of the area just before the whistle.

The defeat keeps Paderborn 17th, but with all still to play for as just two points separate the bottom five teams of Hamburg, Freiburg, Hanover 96, Paderborn and bottom side VfB Stuttgart with two games left.

On Saturday, ten-man Bayern Munich suffered a morale-sapping fourth straight defeat by losing 1-0 to Augsburg ahead of Tuesday's mission-impossible Champions League semi-final, return leg against Barcelona.

Augsburg's Paraguay striker Raul Bobadilla followed on from Barcelona's Lionel Messi by inflicting more misery on Bundesliga champions Bayern.

Bayern host Barca facing an uphill task having been routed 3-0 in Spain, when Messi scored twice, which followed defeats to Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup semi-final and a league defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern played nearly 80 minutes with ten men after reserve goalkeeper Pepe Reina was shown a straight red card with just 13 minutes gone.

Dutch defender Paul Verhaegh hit the post with the resulting spot-kick.

But Augsburg grabbed the winner when Danish midfielder Pierre-Emile Hoejbjerg, on loan from Bayern, put in a cross which Bobadilla deftly back-heeled on 71 minutes.

Borussia Moenchengladbach are virtually sure of joining Wolfsburg and Bayern directly in the Champions League next season after their 3-0 win over fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

Germany striker Max Kruse, who will play for Wolfsburg next season, Patrick Herrmann and Guinea forward Ibrahima Traore scored Gladbach's goals.

Borussia Dortmund are on the verge of a Europa League place next season after enjoying a 2-0 win at home to Hertha Berlin as goals by defenders Neven Subotic and Erik Durm lifted Dortmund to seventh.

Hanover remain third from bottom after their 1-1 draw at home to Werder Bremen while Stuttgart stayed bottom despite their 2-0 win over Mainz to make things tight at the foot of the table.

Mid-table Eintracht Frankfurt enjoyed a 3-1 win over Hoffenheim while Hamburg stayed above the relegation places with a 1-1 draw at home to Freiburg on Friday thanks to Gojko Kacar's 90th-minute equaliser.
Source: AFP