Darmstadt’s late loss dooms them to Bundesliga drop

BERLIN: Darmstadt’s relegation to Germany’s second tier was confirmed on Sunday evening with a 1-0 home defeat to Heidenheim.

Nikola Dovedan’s injury time winner sealed Darmstadt’s fate, leaving Torsten Lieberknecht’s team 11 points adrift of possible safety with three games to play.

Darmstadt, who were relegated from the Bundesliga in 2017 and sealed a return to the top-flight last year, have won just three games all season and needed a victory on Sunday to keep their hopes of survival alive.

“It will take some time to process but we knew this day would come,” Lieberknecht said. “It’s part of life as a sportsman, part of life as a footballer. The decisive factor is how we spend the next few days and weeks.

“The fans are naturally disappointed but they have shown that despite the disappointment everyone here is standing together and working together.”

Earlier on Sunday, Cologne’s Florian Kainz came off the bench to score a 95th minute penalty and salvage a 1-1 draw in Mainz.

Cologne remain second bottom and five points from the relegation play-off place that Mainz currently occupy but the last-gasp strike keeps Cologne’s hopes of a miraculous escape alive and prevented Mainz climbing two places.

Mainz had appeared on course for a precious 1-0 win after Leandro Barreiro capped a swift counter-attack, scoring on a rebound after Cologne goalkeeper Marvin Schwaebe had thwarted Karim Onisiwo’s initial effort.

Cologne spurned a golden opportunity to draw level 55 seconds after the restart when they were awarded a penalty for Frenchman Anthony Caci’s clumsy challenge on Faride Alidou — but Luca Waldschmidt put the spotkick wide.

But Cologne won a second penalty four minutes into stoppage time after a VAR check confirmed a foul by the Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner. Kainz kept his cool, sending Zentner the wrong way.

Union had played out a 0-0 draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach earlier on Sunday, collecting only their second point since their last league win, on March 30. Moenchengladbach are still in danger, with only a two-point cushion on the two teams below them.

ALL-FEMALE TEAM OF REFS

An all-female referee team took charge of a Serie A game for the first time on Sunday with the landmark occasion coming as newly-crowned champions Inter Milan defeated Torino 2-0 at the San Siro.

Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi was assisted by Tiziana Trasciatti and Francesca Di Monte and she was kept busy.

Ferrieri Caputi sent off Torino’s Adrien Tameze in the 49th minute for a foul on Henrikh Mkhitaryan after a check at the pitch-side monitor.

She then had a much easier decision to make when Matteo Lovato brought down Marcus Thuram, allowing Hakan Calhanoglu to slam home from the penalty spot for his and Inter’s second goal.