Bayern move closer to title, Bayer go third
Injury-hit Bayern Munich moved closer to retaining their Bundesliga title after they won 2-0 at Hoffenheim.
Sebastian Rode scored the opening goal for the visitors who added a second through an Andreas Beck own goal to take maximum points and extend their advantage over Wolfsburg, who play on Sunday, to 13 points with five games to go.
Given the Bayern line-up, Hoffenheim will be ruing themselves for missing an opportunity to strengthen their own claim for a place in Europe next season, although they simply created too little danger to test Pep Guardiola's men.
Bayer Leverkusen moved above Borussia Monchengladbach on goal difference and into third place thanks to a convincing 4-0 win over Hannover which heaps the pressure on the Lower Saxony club's coach Tayfun Korkut. Omer Toprak gave the hosts the lead and Julian Brandt added a second before the interval.
Hannover had no answer to a strong Leverkusen side, who added two more goals through Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Stefan Kiessling to climb a place in the table, leaving Hannover just two points above the bottom three.
Borussia Dortmund responded to this week's news that coach Jurgen Klopp will be leaving at the end of the season with a 3-0 victory over Paderborn that boosts their hopes of getting in the UEFA Europa League.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Shinji Kagawa scored the goals for Dortmund, who are now just a point behind seventh-placed Hoffenheim, which may be good enough for a place in Europe next season. Paderborn, meanwhile, could slip to the foot of the Bundesliga on Sunday if both Stuttgart and Hamburg below them win their games in hand.
Freiburg's comeback fell short as they went down 3-2 at home to Mainz on Saturday. Two goals from Shinji Okazaki gave Mainz an advantage at the break, but Admir Mehmedi gave Freiburg hope with just under ten minutes left. Yunus Malli restored Mainz's two-goal cushion three minutes later and it proved to be a crucial goal as Jonathan Schmid's effort at the end for Freiburg was too little too late.
Hertha Berlin and Koln took a point each from their clash at the Olympiastadion with the goalless draw seemingly satisfying both sides.
In the day's late game, Augsburg strengthened their claim for a place in the Europa League next season, moving five points clear of seventh-placed Hoffenheim thanks to a 2-1 win over Stuttgart, a result which leaves their Swabian rivals inside the bottom two.
Tobias Werner gave Augsburg the lead before Daniel Ginczek levelled against the run of play. Stuttgart had chances to take the lead but were punished by Raul Bobadilla's winner in the 73rd minute, falling to another defeat which leaves them in the relegation zone with just five games now to save themselves.