Hamburg stay afloat after 3-1 win over Wolfsburg

Cologne relegated from Bundesliga after defeat

Hamburg secured a crucial victory in a relegation battle after beating struggling Wolfsburg 3-1 while Cologne were officially relegated following a 2-3 defeat to Freiburg at the 32nd round in Bundesliga.

Hamburg on Saturday secured their second straight win after moving 3-1 past Wolfsburg with goals from Bobby Wood, Lewis Holtby and Luca Waldschmidt. Both sides started highly motivated and ensured a lively opening period with chances at both ends of the pitch.

Wolfsburg’s Renato Steffen came close to opening the scoring but he missed the target from five meters before Bobby Wood’s lob was cleared in the last moment.

The opener came out of thin air as Bobby Wood converted a foul play penalty in the 43rd minute. Within minutes, things went from bad to worse for the “Wolves” as Tatsuya Ito’s cross into the box found Lewis Holtby, who nodded home to double the lead in the closing period of the first half.

After the restart, Hamburg retracted with the two-goal lead and let Wolfsburg do the work. The “Wolves” had to wait until the 78th minute before Josip Brekalo’s free kick reduced the deficit.

Wolfsburg sniffed a chance to grab a draw and threw everything up front. They efforts got punished though as William fouled Waldschmidt inside the box to cause a penalty.

Casteels saved Kostic’s attempt from the spot but Waldschmidt poked home the rebound to make it 3-1 in the dying seconds of the game.

With the result, 17thplaced Hamburg have raised hopes to maintain their top-flight status. Wolfsburg slipped to 15th.

Cologne were relegated into the second division after losing 2-3 to Freiburg.