Leipzig lock up Champions League berth
BERLIN: Germany striker Timo Werner said RB Leipzig’s dreams had come true as their 4-0 rout of Freiburg on Saturday guaranteed them a crack at the Champions League next season.
With five games left, Leipzig are guaranteed to finish their first Bundesliga season in the top four.
The first three teams in Germany’s top flight qualify directly for the Champions League, while the fourth-placed team go into a play-off for a group stage berth.
Danish striker Yussuf Poulsen gave hosts Leipzig an early lead before putting Werner in behind the Freiburg defence just before the break for his 16th league goal this season.
Guinea midfielder Naby Keita netted with a superb shot on 51 minutes before Diego Demme hit a late fourth to claim his first goal for RB.
“It was another important step. Now we want to achieve more and fulfil our next dream,” said Werner, with one eye on Europe.
This was Leipzig’s fourth straight win and their Champions League chance is reward for a club that started their first Bundesliga season with a record 13-match unbeaten run.
“Of course, I am delighted,” said coach Ralph Hasenhuettl. “We were prepared for a very hard game and we found the right solutions.
“We took the pace out of the game with the third goal and you could see in the second half that Freiburg certainly know how to play.
“But once we went 3-0 up, we managed to calm the game down.”
Borussia Dortmund bounced back from the trauma of the bomb attack on their team bus and their Champions League defeat in midweek to earn an emotion-filled 3-1 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Champions and leaders Bayern Munich saw their advantage at the top cut to eight points after they were held to a 0-0 draw at 10-man Bayer Leverkusen, having missed a barrage of chances.
The result left Bayern on 69 points from 29 games while Leipzig have 61.
Dortmund fans gave their players a rousing reception back at the Westfalenstadion after their tumultuous week and ended up cheering goals from Marco Reus, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang.
Mexican Marco Fabian was on target for Frankfurt.
Third-placed Hoffenheim beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 5-3 to stay a point clear of fourth-placed Dortmund, remaining on course for a best-ever Bundesliga finish and also a maiden Champions League berth.
Their cause was helped by defeat for fifth-placed Hertha Berlin who went down 1-0 at lowly Mainz.