Bremen v Cologne
Six-goal Werder Bremen avoid automatic relegation
Werder Bremen extended their 39-year stay in the Bundesliga for at least another 10 days when they thumped Cologne 6-1 to avoid automatic relegation on Saturday.
The four-times Bundesliga champions climbed out of the drop zone and leapfrogged Fortuna Duesseldorf to finish 16th in the 18-team table. They now face a playoff against the team that finishes third in the second division. Fortuna lost 3-0 at Union and were relegated.
Werder began the day as favourites to go down as they were two points behind Fortuna with a worse goal difference but raced to a 3-0 lead as Yuya Osako, Milot Rashica and Niclas Fuellkrug scored in a six-minute spell in the first half.
Davy Klaassen added a fourth after half time, Osako made it 5-0, Dominick Drexler pulled one back and Joshua Sargent scored a sixth to leave Werder with 31 points, one more than Fortuna.
The two-leg playoff is due to take place on July 2 and 6.
Game Information
German Bundesliga Standings
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayern Munich | 32 | 26 | 5 | 1 | +81 | 83 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 31 | 20 | 7 | 4 | +34 | 67 |
| RB Leipzig | 32 | 19 | 5 | 8 | +21 | 62 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 32 | 17 | 7 | 8 | +23 | 58 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 32 | 17 | 7 | 8 | +20 | 58 |
| TSG Hoffenheim | 32 | 17 | 7 | 8 | +16 | 58 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 32 | 11 | 10 | 11 | -3 | 43 |
| SC Freiburg | 31 | 12 | 7 | 12 | -8 | 43 |
| FC Augsburg | 32 | 11 | 7 | 14 | -14 | 40 |
| Mainz | 31 | 8 | 10 | 13 | -10 | 34 |
| Hamburg SV | 32 | 8 | 10 | 14 | -15 | 34 |
| 1. FC Union Berlin | 32 | 8 | 9 | 15 | -20 | 33 |
| FC Cologne | 32 | 7 | 11 | 14 | -8 | 32 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 31 | 7 | 11 | 13 | -14 | 32 |
| Werder Bremen | 32 | 8 | 8 | 16 | -20 | 32 |
| St. Pauli | 31 | 6 | 8 | 17 | -27 | 26 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 31 | 6 | 7 | 18 | -25 | 25 |
| 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 | 32 | 5 | 8 | 19 | -31 | 23 |
Bundesliga News