Bayer Leverkusen complete unbeaten Bundesliga season with victory over Augsburg
Leverkusen could still complete a famous treble this season.
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Your support makes all the difference.Victor Boniface and Robert Andrich ensured champions Bayer Leverkusen completed an unbeaten Bundesliga campaign with victory over Augsburg.
The pair struck inside the opening 27 minutes at the BayArena to lay the foundations of a 2-1 win, which extended their run without defeat to 51 games and helped Xabi Alonso’s men add the “Invincibles” tag to their league crown with the prospect of Europa League and German Cup glory to come.
Mert Komur reduced the deficit with 28 minutes remaining, but there was no way back for the visitors.
Deposed champions Bayern Munich suffered the misery of dropping to third place after a 4-2 defeat at Hoffenheim, for whom Andrej Kramaric’s blasted a remarkable second-half hat-trick.
Bayern, who were without the injured Harry Kane, led 2-0 after just six minutes at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena thanks to Mathys Tel and Alphonso Davies.
Maximilian Beier’s eighth-minute strike dragged the hosts back into it, but the fireworks arrived after the break with Kramaric levelling with 68 minutes gone before scoring twice more inside the final five minutes.
Serhou Guirassy’s double helped Stuttgart take full advantage as they leapfrogged Thomas Tuchel’s men into second place after a 4-0 demolition of Borussia Monchengladbach.
Guirassy’s efforts put the home side 2-0 up at the break, with substitutes Jeong Woo-yeong and Silas Katompa Mvumpa completing the job in the second half.
RB Leipzig finished fourth after they drew 2-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt despite taking a two-goal lead.
Xavi Simon’s penalty and Benjamin Sesko’s goal looked to have put them in the driving seat, but Hugo Ekitike and Omar Marmoush, who levelled from the spot, ensured the spoils were shared.
Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund are already assured of a place in next season’s competition, and ended the campaign in fifth following a 4-0 home win over relegated Darmstadt with goals from Ian Maatsen, Marco Reus, Julian Brandt and Donyell Malen.
At the other end of the table, Cologne’s relegation was confirmed by a 4-1 defeat at Heidenheim.
Two goals from Eren Dinkci and a third from Kevin Sessa put the home side in control and although Steffen Tigges pulled one back, Jan-Niklas Beste hammered the final nail into the visitors’ coffin.
Substitute Janik Haberer came to Union Berlin’s rescue in the nick of time as he fired home a stoppage-time winner against Freiburg to keep them out of the bottom three.
Union, who started the day in the relegation play-off place, led through Benedict Hollerbach’s goal, but were pegged back by Ritsu Doan before Haberer struck in stoppage time to clinch a 2-1 victory lifted his side into 15th place.
Instead, it will be Bochum who have to fight for their top-flight lives in a play-off against Fortuna Dusseldorf after a 4-1 defeat at Werder Bremen, for whom Marco Friedl, Anthony Jung, Jens Stage and Romano Schmid scored with Christoper Antwi-Adjei replying.
Elsewhere, goals from Brajan Gruda, Sepp van den Berg and Jonathan Burkardt, after Kevin Paredes had put the home side ahead, handed Mainz a 3-1 win at Wolfsburg.
In Serie A, second-half goals from Charles De Ketelaere and Gianluca Scamacca handed fifth-placed Atalanta a 2-0 win at Lecce which secured their return to Champions League football.
They will head into their two remaining fixtures six points clear of Roma, who cannot catch them because of the head-to-head record between the clubs.
Ricardo Rodriguez scored the pick of the goals as Torino beat second-placed AC Milan 3-1 to claim back-to-back Serie A wins.
Duvan Zapata and Ivan Ilic had both struck with headers when Rodriguez blasted in off the post within seconds of the restart, and although Ismael Bennacer converted a 55th-minute penalty, the visitors were well beaten.
In Spain, Carlos Vicente scored the only goal as Alaves won their mid-table clash with Getafe at the Mendizorroza 1-0 in Saturday’s only LaLiga game.