BERLIN (AP) — Jamie Leweling scored twice and Stuttgart routed Wolfsburg 4-0 to boost its chances of Champions League qualification while leaving the visitors in the Bundesliga’s relegation zone on Sunday.
Deniz Undav started Stuttgart’s party in the 21st and Leweling made it 2-0 nine minutes later after another well-worked team move, before grabbing his second with a deflected shot in the 42nd.
Stuttgart eased up in the second half. Substitute Nikolas Nartey completed the scoring in stoppage time with another deflected shot that squirmed in off the far post.
Stuttgart consolidated fourth place, the last for Champions League qualification, with 10 rounds remaining.
Wolfsburg is second-last after its fifth defeat from a run of seven games without a win. The Volkswagen-backed team’s coach Daniel Bauer is its second this season after he took over – initially on an interim basis – from the fired Paul Simonis in November.
Former Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking is reportedly a candidate to return and try to save the team from the drop. The 61-year-old Hecking was in charge from December 2012 to October 2016 and won the German Cup with Wolfsburg in 2015, when it finished second behind Bayern in the Bundesliga and Hecking was voted coach of the season.
But Hecking couldn’t prevent Bochum’s relegation last year and he was fired in November after starting the second division with four defeats in five games.
Traveling Wolfsburg fans brought a giant banner to Stuttgart saying “relegation fight,” as if they needed to inform the players of their predicament.
Leipzig keeps pace
Yan Diomande scored the winner as Leipzig kept pace with a 2-1 win at Hamburger SV to stay two points behind Stuttgart in fifth.
Bayer Leverkusen was six points behind Stuttgart before visiting Hamburg for their postponed 17th-round game on Wednesday.
Frankfurt flying with new coach
Fares Chaibi scored one goal and set up the other for Eintracht Frankfurt to beat Freiburg 2-0 and leapfrog the visitors into seventh place.
Both goals came in the second half with Chaibi setting up Jean-Matteo Bahoya to seal the win in the 81st.
It’s the second win from two at home without conceding a goal under new coach Albert Riera. Frankfurt’s only defeat in four games under the Spanish coach was a 3-2 loss at Bayern Munich last weekend.
Title is Bayern’s to lose
Bayern is the heavy favorite to win the league again after its 3-2 win over closest rival Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker on Saturday.
The Bavarian powerhouse is 11 points clear and has only dropped points in four games from 24 so far this season.
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