Berlin, March 17 (IANS) Hamburg climbed out of the relegation battle following a decisive 2-1 win over Nuremberg while Freiburg upset Frankfurt 4-1 to close the 25th round of German football league — Bundesliga.
Hamburg earned vital points as Hakan Calhanoglu and Mike Frantz’ own goal secured ‘HSV’ the sixth win of the season Sunday.
Nuremberg’s situation worsened as they sit just two points away from the drop zone, reports Xinhua.
HSV needed 80 minutes to overcome Nuremberg’s bulwark. Hamburg controlled the proceedings for most of the match while the visitors defended deep to lurk for counter-attacks.
Markus Feulner created the best chance for the club when he rattled the woodwork (25th minute). Hamburg tried another on target as Jacques Zoua hit the left post just before the break.
After the restart, Hamburg piled on the pressure.
They rewarded themselves when Calhanoglu was successful with a long-range effort to break the deadlock (80th). Frantz doubled the lead for the hosts when he cleared the ball into his own goal six minutes later.
Despite a 0-2 deficit, a resilient Nuremberg were able to reduce the arrears as Josip Drmic got his name on the scoreboard in the dying minutes. However, their rise up came too late.
“Only one team deserved three points and that was HSV,” Nuremberg coach Gertjan Verbeek said. Nuremberg drop from 14th to 16th while Hamburg climb from relegation zone to 14th.
Elsewhere, Freiburg’s Karim Guede donated a brace to help his side snatch three points at Frankfurt.
Frankfurt took the reins from kick-off and created opportunities but the visitors scored the opener against the run.
Freiburg’s Julian Schuster shocked the hosts when he scored with an overhead kick at the half-hour mark.
The hosts recovered quickly from the deficit but they left their chances unused. Guede punished Frankfurt’s wastefulness when he doubled the advantage nine minutes into the second half.
The ‘Eagles’ remained unfazed again and got rewarded as Joselu reduced the arrears to 2-1 following a pinpoint cross by Jan Rosenthal (59th).
Freiburg restored their two-goal lead through Felix Klaus (70th) who beat custodian Kevin Trapp from 16 metres into the bottom left, following a pass by Admir Mehmedi.
Freiburg killed it in the dying minutes as Guede sealed his brace to mark the final 4-1 score.
Frankfurt sit on 13th position while relegation threatened Freiburg move from 17th to 16th, a relegation play-off spot.