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 Table
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayern Munich | 31 | 26 | 4 | 1 | +81 | 82 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 31 | 20 | 7 | 4 | +34 | 67 |
| RB Leipzig | 31 | 19 | 5 | 7 | +24 | 62 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 31 | 17 | 6 | 8 | +20 | 57 |
| TSG Hoffenheim | 31 | 17 | 6 | 8 | +16 | 57 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 31 | 16 | 7 | 8 | +20 | 55 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 31 | 11 | 10 | 10 | -2 | 43 |
| SC Freiburg | 31 | 12 | 7 | 12 | -8 | 43 |
| FC Augsburg | 31 | 10 | 7 | 14 | -16 | 37 |
| Mainz | 31 | 8 | 10 | 13 | -10 | 34 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 31 | 7 | 11 | 13 | -14 | 32 |
| Werder Bremen | 31 | 8 | 8 | 15 | -18 | 32 |
| 1. FC Union Berlin | 31 | 8 | 8 | 15 | -20 | 32 |
| FC Cologne | 31 | 7 | 10 | 14 | -8 | 31 |
| Hamburg SV | 31 | 7 | 10 | 14 | -16 | 31 |
| St. Pauli | 31 | 6 | 8 | 17 | -27 | 26 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 31 | 6 | 7 | 18 | -25 | 25 |
| 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 | 31 | 5 | 7 | 19 | -31 | 22 |
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