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 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | +29 | 27 |
| RB Leipzig | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | +9 | 22 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | +9 | 20 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | +4 | 18 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | +4 | 17 |
| TSG Hoffenheim | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | +3 | 16 |
| FC Cologne | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | +4 | 14 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | +3 | 14 |
| Werder Bremen | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -4 | 12 |
| 1. FC Union Berlin | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | -4 | 11 |
| SC Freiburg | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | -2 | 10 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -5 | 8 |
| Hamburg SV | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -7 | 8 |
| FC Augsburg | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -9 | 7 |
| St. Pauli | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -10 | 7 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -8 | 6 |
| Mainz | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | -7 | 5 |
| 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | -9 | 5 |
Bundesliga News