Cologne relegated; Dortmund breaks another record
BERLIN: Cologne had their German league relegation confirmed yesterday while Borussia Dortmund broke the Bundesliga record for the most German league points in a season with a 4-0 thrashing of Freiburg.
On the last day of the league season, Cologne’s 4-1 defeat at home to Bayern Munich saw them drop to 17th in the league, synonymous with automatic relegation, after Hertha Berlin’s 3-1 home win over 10-man Hoffenheim lifted them to 16th.
Hertha must now win a two-leg play-off to stay in the top tier. The capital side discover who their opponents are on Sunday and play the first leg on Thursday.
Hertha took the lead at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium when Tunisia midfielder Anis Ben-hatira slammed home a direct free-kick just 14 minutes into the game.
Hoffenheim were reduced to 10 men when ex-liverpool striker Ryan Babbel was shown two yellow cards in quick succession after theatrics from Georgia’s Levan Kobiashvili convinced the referee he had been struck in the face.
Replays showed it was a harsh decision against Holland’s Babbel, who was dismissed with 42 minutes on the clock.
Hertha made it 2-0 when BenHatira tapped home again on 78 minutes to secure Berlin’s play-off lifeline.
Ex-germany defender Marvin Compper netted a late consolation for Hoffenheim before Brazil striker Raffael made it 3-1 to the hosts in the 92nd minute.
Arsenal-bound Lukas Podolski marked his Cologne farewell, but could not prevent his team suffering a home defeat to Bayern.
German international Thomas Mueller put Bayern ahead with a well-timed strike as the Cologne defense swarmed around Munich hot-shot Mario Gomez, leaving Mueller to fire home on 34 minutes.
Cologne captain Pedro Geromel then turned the ball into his own net on 52 minutes and Bayern’s Dutch star Arjen Robben curled in a shot on 54 minutes.
The hosts pulled a goal back, but Mueller netted Bayern’s fourth to compound Cologne’s misery and send them down.
With an end-of-season tally of 81 points Dortmund’s second consecutive title triumph allowed them to break a long-held record for the most points amassed in a league season.
In the 1970s, when only two points were awarded for a win, the Bavarian giants set a record tally of 54 points. Had three points been awarded, Bayern would have won the 1973 title with 79 points.
Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund also extended their unbeaten run to 28 games.
All four Dortmund goals came from Poland internationals as Robert Lewandowski netted twice while national team-mate Jakub Blaszczykowski also hit two goals to make it 4-0 at the break.
Hanvover claimed the last available Europa League qualification spot as their 2-1 win at home to Kaiserslautern left them seventh as Stuttgart’s 3-2 win at home to Wolfsburg denied Wolves a top seven finish and a place in Europe.
Stuttgart’s win saw them score three goals in six second-half minutes to hit back from 3-2 down.
Germany’s Stefan Kiessling hit a hat-trick in Bayer Leverkusen’s 4-1 victory at Nuremberg as ex-germany captain Michael Ballack made his final appearance for Leverkusen.
Dutch striker Klaas-jan Huntelaar was confirmed as the Bundesliga’s top scorer with 29 goals in 32 games after he scored twice in his 3-2 win at Werder Bremen.