Wolfsburg inches closer to fourth spot with Leverkusen defeat
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wolfsburg, Germany (SportsNetwork.com) - Wolfsburg moved closer to a Champions League place on Saturday after coming away with a 3-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen at the Volkswagen Arena.
Coming off a 2-1 victory over Hertha Berlin last week, Wolfsburg continued its fine form in league play and got off to a flying start when Bas Dost put the club in front after just 13 minutes.
Leverkusen, which limped back to domestic play after a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of PSG in the Champions League on Tuesday, had an answer however when Sidney Sam put the sides back on level terms in the 45th minute.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The second half belonged to the hosts as Luis Gustavo fired Wolfsburg in front in the 58th minute and Ricardo Rodriguez missed a penalty kick in the 72nd, but atoned for his miss a minute later to put the home side up by two.
The result sees Wolfsburg improve to 39 points, just two back of Schalke for the final Champions League place in the Bundesliga, while Leverkusen remains in second place on 43 points, 16 behind league leaders Bayern Munich.
Also in the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund suffered a sixth defeat in league play after a 3-0 loss at the hands of Hamburg at the Imtech Arena.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The hosts opened the scoring four minutes before the break when Petr Jiracek fired it home and they took the margin into the locker room. Dortmund hoped for a better performance in the second 45 minutes, but it was Hamburg that struck again in the 57th minute through Pierre-Michel Lasogga.
Hamburg then finished the job with a third goal in stoppage time through Hakan Calhanoglu to wrap up an important three points and send Jurgen Klopp's team home disappointed.
The result sees Hamburg pull itself closer to safety with 19 points, while Dortmund stays in third place on 42 points.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hoffenheim rallied from a two-goal deficit to earn a point in a 2-2 draw with Borussia Monchengladbach at Borussia Park. Patrick Herrmann and Tony Jantschke scored inside of 20 minutes to spot Monchengladbach a quick lead. But goals from Roberto Firmino and Sejad Salihovic rescued a point for the visitors.
10-man Nurnberg hung on for a 2-1 victory over Braunschweig, while Augsburg buried three goals inside the final 20 minutes of play to come away with an impressive 4-2 victory over Freiburg at the Mage Solar Stadion.
Hertha Berlin recovered from a loss to Wolfsburg last weekend to post a 2-1 result over Stuttgart at the Mercedes Benz Arena. Hertha got off to a flying start with a goal five minutes in from Levan Kobiashvili.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Stuttgart answered with a tally from Arthur Boka to send the sides into the changing room on level terms. Sandro Wagner gave the visitors the lead three minutes from time and was sent off in stoppage time, but it didn't matter as his goal was enough to see Hertha Berlin across the line for the victory.