Relegation-threatened Hamburg, Wolfsburg lose in Bundesliga

Berlin, May 6: Eintracht Frankfurt cruised 3-0 past Hamburg to leave the latter on the brink of relegation while RB Leipzig eased past struggling VfL Wolfsburg 4-1 in the 33rd round in the Bundesliga football championship.

Following the 0-3 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, Hamburg are in need of a victory over Borussia Monchengladbach at the last round next week to avoid the club's first relegation in the German league history.

Frankfurt and Hamburg staged a balanced opening period with chances at both ends of the pitch. Gideon Jung defused Sebastien Haller's promising chance for Frankfurt before the video referee disallowed Hamburg the opener from Tatsuya Ito in the 25th minute.

The hosts broke the deadlock six minutes later after Haller's through ball found Marius Wolf, who nutmegged Hamburg goalkeeper Julian Pollersbeck from eleven metres.

After the restart, Hamburg piled on the pressure and pressed forward while Frankfurt defended deep in their territory. However, the visitors lacked penetration and got another goal flagged offside in the 69th minute.

Things went from bad to worse for Hamburg as Frankfurt's Omar Mascarell hammered home from 13 meters in the 77th minute.

Frankfurt were not done with the scoring and wrapped up a 3-0 victory in the dying minutes of the game through substitute Alexander Meier.

With the defeat, second-bottom Hamburg sit two points adrift of a relegation play-off spot with one match to spare while 7th-placed Frankfurt eye a berth in Europe.

Elsewhere, newly-crowned Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich came from behind to beat relegated Cologne 3-1.

Runners-up Schalke returned to winning ways and secured their Champions League berth for next season after edging Augsburg 2-1.

Mainz maintain their top flight status after overcoming third-placed Borussia Dortmund 2-1 on the goals from Ridle Baku and Yoshinori Muto. IANS