Hilltops clinch first in PFC with 36-11 victory over Thunder
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The Saskatoon Hilltops have once again clinched first-place in the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) after defeating the...
BERLIN — Erling Haaland scored twice as Borussia Dortmund sealed second place in the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win at third-place Leipzig on Saturday.
Bayern Munich, which wrapped up its eighth straight title by beating Werder Bremen on Tuesday, celebrated with a 3-1 win at home over Freiburg.
Players on all teams in the penultimate round wore a badge on their sleeves promoting the German government’s new coronavirus tracing app, which was also advertised on corner flags.
On his first professional start, 17-year-old American Gio Reyna set up Haaland on a counterattack in the 30th minute. It was Rayna’s first assist in the league.
The 19-year-old Haaland also hit the crossbar. The Norwegian had to wait until injury time before he grabbed his second — and 13th goal in 14 league appearances — set up this time by Julian Brandt.
Canadian international Alphonso Davies, voted Bundesliga rookie of the year on Friday, missed the game through suspension after being sent off Tuesday at Werder Bremen.
It means Dortmund is assured of second place with one game of the season remaining. Despite defeat, Leipzig is virtually assured of Champions League soccer next season.
Leipzig is one point ahead of Borussia Mönchengladbach, which took advantage of Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-0 loss at Hertha Berlin to move fourth with a 3-1 win at already relegated Paderborn.
Leverkusen needed a win to stay ahead of Gladbach in fourth, the last place for Champions League qualification, but failed to make the most of a good start and couldn’t recover after Matheus Cunha fired Hertha into a 22nd-minute lead.
Dodi Lukebakio, who combined with Krzysztof Piatekto set up Cunha, scored Hertha’s second goal early in the second half, when Piatek gave him an easy finish.
It left Leverkusen two points behind Gladbach in fifth, three points behind Leipzig, but with a vastly inferior goal difference to the energy drink manufacturer-backed club.
Leverkusen now needs a
RELEGATION RACE
Mainz, Cologne and Augsburg all ensured top-tier soccer next season, as Bremen’s troubles deepened.
Mainz players lifted their right arms in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement after Robin Quaison’s opening goal in a 3-1 win over 17th-place Bremen.
The team above Bremen, Fortuna Düsseldorf, earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw at home to Augsburg.
Rouwen Hennings thought he’d given Düsseldorf the early lead with a powerful shot, but video review ruled it out for handball in the build-up.
Augsburg promptly scored through Florian Niederlechner, but Hennings hit back with a goal from outside the box to level it up. Fortuna threw players forward in stoppage time in search of a win that would have removed the threat of automatic relegation, but Augsburg held firm for the draw.
Four-time champion Bremen is two points behind Fortuna and will need a win over Cologne next week to have any chance of avoiding dropping out of the top division for the first time since 1981.
Either Düsseldorf or Bremen will face a playoff against the third-place team from the second division.
Cologne drew with Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1.
OTHER GAMES
Union Berlin, still celebrating after clinching its survival on Wednesday, slipped to a 4-0 loss at Hoffenheim, which booked its place in the Europa League next season.
Schalke’s club-record winless run stretched to 14 games after a 4-1 defeat at Wolfsburg, which also booked a Europa League qualification place.
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AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth contributed from Düsseldorf.
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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Ciarán Fahey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cfaheyAP
CiaráN Fahey, The Associated Press