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 München | 27 | 22 | 4 | 1 | +72 | 70 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 27 | 18 | 7 | 2 | +30 | 61 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 27 | 16 | 5 | 6 | +20 | 53 |
| RB Leipzig | 27 | 15 | 5 | 7 | +18 | 50 |
| TSG Hoffenheim | 27 | 15 | 5 | 7 | +15 | 50 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 27 | 13 | 7 | 7 | +16 | 46 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 27 | 10 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 38 |
| SC Freiburg | 27 | 10 | 7 | 10 | -5 | 37 |
| 1. FC Union Berlin | 27 | 8 | 7 | 12 | -15 | 31 |
| FC Augsburg | 27 | 9 | 4 | 14 | -17 | 31 |
| Mainz | 27 | 7 | 9 | 11 | -9 | 30 |
| Hamburg SV | 27 | 7 | 9 | 11 | -9 | 30 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 27 | 7 | 8 | 12 | -13 | 29 |
| Werder Bremen | 27 | 7 | 7 | 13 | -17 | 28 |
| FC Cologne | 27 | 6 | 8 | 13 | -9 | 26 |
| St. Pauli | 27 | 6 | 6 | 15 | -20 | 24 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 27 | 5 | 6 | 16 | -22 | 21 |
| 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 | 27 | 3 | 6 | 18 | -34 | 15 |
Bundesliga News