Berlin, May 24 (IANS) German football clubs Paderborn and Freiburg were relegated to second division while Bayern Munich officially lifted their 25th Bundesliga title at a sell-out Allianz Arena to close the 2014-2015 season.
Stuttgart’s Daniel Ginczek secured his side top-flight status as he scored the 2-1 winner to send newly promoted Paderborn back into second division on Saturday, reports Xinhua.
Paderborn caught a fairy-tale start on home soil as they opened the scoring with just four minutes into the game. Marc Vucinovic had all the time and space to score from the penalty area with a well-placed shot into the bottom right.
Stuttgart needed 36 minutes to recover from the early setback when Daniel Didavi capitalised on a failed clearance attempt by Paderborn’s defence to level the scores from inside the box.
The visitors controlled the proceedings but they had to wait until the 72nd minute before Daniel Ginczek turned the tide, securing Stuttgart’s top-flight status for next season. With the crucial victory, Stuttgart climbed from 16th, a relegation playoff spot, to 14th while last positioned Paderborn slipped into second division.
Hannover also secured their first division spot as they snatched a 2-1 victory over Freiburg, who were demoted after slipping to the penultimate spot.
The hosts broke the deadlock early as Hiroshi Kiyotake headed home Miiko Albornoz’ cross from the right wing at the third minute. Freiburg lacked in penetration and suffered a two-goal deficit through an own goal by Pavel Krmas in the closing period.
The second goal for Hannover made the game safe despite Nils Petersen’s goal, which reduced the arrears in the dying minutes. With the loss, Freiburg slipped from 14th to 17th, dropping into second division while Hannover completed the season in 13th.
Hamburg snatched a relegation playoff as they reaped a 2-0 victory over Schalke. After a goalless first half Hamburg scored two quick goals to crave out a relegation playoff spot.
Schalke were unable to clear a corner, allowing Ivica Olic to slot home the opener from inside the box (49th minute). However, the hosts were not done with scoring as Slobodan Raijkovic headed home the 2-0 lead to keep Hamburg’s first division hopes alive.
Hamburg clinched a relegation playoff spot whilst Schalke slipped to sixth place after suffering their 12th loss of the season.
After three winless games in row, newly crowned Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich returned to winning ways as they overcame Mainz 2-0 on home soil.
The German giants needed 25 minutes to break the deadlock with a handball penalty through Robert Lewandowski before Bastian Schweinsteiger killed the game early in the second half when he tapped into the near post corner from 11 metres.
After the final whistle, the ‘Bavarians’ celebrated their prize award ceremony before they lifted the ‘Meisterschale’ with their supporters at sold out Allianz Arena.
Elsewhere, Dortmund defeated Bremen 3-2 in a fast-paced encounter on home soil in the farewell game of coach Juergen Klopp after seven successful years.
Third placed Monchengladbach lost their last game of the season 1-3 to Augsburg, the stunner team of the season, who jumped to fifth place to earn a Europa League berth.
Second placed Wolfsburg shared the spoils with newly promoted Cologne, following a 2-all draw.
Fourth placed Leverkusen suffered their seventh loss of the season as they lost 1-2 to Frankfurt and Hoffenheim downed Berlin 2-1 to earn their 12th victory.