Hoffenheim aiming for Conference League, Gladbach with crucial win
Hoffenheim joined the tight fight for a spot in next season's Conference League with a 3-1 Bundesliga win against direct opponents Augsburg on Sunday, while Borussia Mönchengladbach claimed a crucial 3-1 comeback win at VfL Wolfsburg.
Hosts Hoffenhiem were leading in the 17th minute after Pavel Kaderabek's low cross found Wout Weghorst in front of an open goal and the striker just had to tap in the ball.
They increased their lead just three minutes later and thanks to a sloppy play by Augsburg. A loose long ball from goalkeeper Finn Dahmen was intercepted by Hoffenheim and the team worked the ball to Andrej Kramaric, who curled it into the net from the edge of the box.
Augsburg were early on the attack in the second half and Arne Engels forced Oliver Baumann to make a decent save with a shot from distance in the 48th.
In the 55th, the guests hit the post before eventually pulling one back in the 61st as Ermedin Demirović diverted the ball home.
Any hope of a turnaround, however, ended when Ihlas Bebou scored a third for Hoffenheim and put the game to bed in the 90th.
"We started superbly and played very confidently for 30 minutes. Pavel set me up brilliantly for the 1-0, and the 2-0 was also deserved," Weghorst said.
Hoffenheim are now level with Augsburg on 36 points as both clubs sit six points from the Conference League spot.
"We want to play in Europe next year, that's our goal. To do that, we have to keep going like that," Kramaric said.
In the late game, Ridle Baku, who hadn't scored in 42 Bundesliga games, turned the ball in from a low cross to break the deadlock for Wolfsburg in the seventh minute.
In last week's 3-0 defeat to Freiburg, Gladbach also conceded after seven minutes played, but this time, they found a way to turn the game around.
Ko Itakura's shot was deflected, leaving keeper Pavao Pervan no chance to avoid Gladbach's equalizer in the 52nd and, six minutes later, the guests took the lead after an unmarked Nathan Ngoumou slotted the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.
Substitute Rocco Reitz completed Gladbach's revival and put the game to bed with a goal in the 88th.
With the win, Glabach secured important three points in the battle against relegation and moved up to 11th in the standings, eight points above the drop zone.
Wolfsburg, meanwhile, are 14th with only five points keeping them away from the danger zone.
On Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen defeated Union Berlin 1-0 and can claim the Bundesliga title next weekend.
The league leaders, who are unbeaten in all their 41 season matches and a record-equalling 28 in the Bundesliga in 2023-24, will be crowned champions if they beat Werder Bremen on Sunday.
But they could even take the title the previous day if Bayern Munich, who were defeated 3-2 at Heidenheim, and VfB Stuttgart, who won 1-0 at Borussia Dortmund, lose their matches against Cologne and Eintracht Frankfurt, respectively.
