Borussia Dortmund cruised to a 4-0 home win over Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Sunday to lock in Champions League qualification for next season.
Maximilian Beier, Serhou Guirassy, Ramy Bensebaini and Fabio Silva all scored for Dortmund, who are 10 points clear of fifth-placed Hoffenheim with three games to play.
Dortmund drew 1-1 with Freiburg earlier in the season but have now scored three goals or more against the Black Forest club in eight of their past nine meetings.
“We’ve made sure of the Champions League so of course now we want to lock in second spot,” Beier told DAZN. “The sun is shining, we’ve qualified for the Champions League, it feels good.” Freiburg sit in eighth place but are through to the Europa League semifinals, where they face Braga. Dortmund lead after just eight minutes as Bensebaini lofted a long pass over the midfield to an onrushing Beier, who collected the ball before guiding a shot across the face of goal. They added another six minutes later when Guirassy turned in a lovely dipping pass from Julian Brandt. Bensebaini headed in a Julian Ryerson corner just after the half-hour mark. Ryerson now has 13 assists this season, nine of which have come from corners. Freiburg’s hopes of kick-starting a comeback took a hit when Lukas Kuebler’s goal was chalked off by VAR for offside 10 minutes into the second half. Silva added a late fourth for only his second Bundesliga goal.
Stuttgart suffer top-four setback: Stuttgart were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Werder Bremen, denting their hopes of a return to the Champions League.
Stuttgart’s top-four rivals Leipzig, Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen all won this weekend to up the pressure on the German Cup holders.
Bremen’s Jens Stage continued his rich run of form, putting the visitors ahead early before Ermedin Demirovic levelled four minutes after coming on in the second half.
Stuttgart sit in fourth place with three games remaining. They are level on points with Hoffenheim but ahead on goal difference, while Leverkusen are lurking two points behind.
Stuttgart still have to play Hoffenheim and Leverkusen, as well as Eintracht Frankfurt. “In the end, that’s just not enough. In the fight for the Champions League, especially at home, we need to secure every three points available to ensure everything remains in our own hands,” Demirovic said to DAZN. “Even though we were exhausted, we had set our sights higher. This really hurts.”