BERLIN (AP) — Wolfsburg made ground in its bid for Bundesliga survival on Sunday with a 1-1 draw at Freiburg.
It was enough for the Volkswagen-backed club to replace St. Pauli in the relegation playoff place with two rounds remaining. St. Pauli lost 2-1 at home to Mainz earlier and dropped into an automatic relegation place after eight games without a win.
Wolfsburg star Christian Eriksen set up Konstantinos Koulierakis to break the deadlock in the 55th in Freiburg.
But Philipp Lienhart equalized in the 75th with a glancing header to Johan Manzambi’s cross to send the ball in off the far post.
It left Wolfsburg just ahead of St. Pauli on goal difference, while both teams’ results kept last-place Heidenheim’s hopes of survival alive for another week at least.
“It’s going to be a close race between the three of us,” Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking said.
Heidenheim on 23 points visits Cologne and then hosts Mainz in the final round, while Wolfsburg (26 points) next faces champion Bayern Munich before a showdown at St. Pauli on the last day. St. Pauli visits Champions League-chasing Leipzig next weekend before Wolfsburg visits on May 16.
The bottom two are relegated automatically, while the team that finishes third from bottom has a two-leg playoff against the third-place finisher from the second division to determine which plays in the Bundesliga next season.
Seventh-place Freiburg next hosts Braga for the second leg of their Europa League semifinal on Thursday. Braga won the first leg 2-1 in Portugal.
Mainz, Gladbach safe
Phillip Tietz and Phillipp Mwene scored in the first half for Mainz at St. Pauli to secure its place in the division next season with no concerns about relegation. Mainz had been bottom of the table with nine defeats from 13 games when it appointed Urs Fischer as coach in December.
Also Sunday, Haris Tabaković scored late for Borussia Mönchengladbach to clinch its survival with a 1-0 win over second-place Borussia Dortmund.
Bayern Munich has already won the title with four rounds to spare. Schalke clinched promotion back to the division on Saturday.
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