Hamburg’s hopes of qualifying for a European place next season suffered a setback on Sunday when they lost 1-0 at mid-table Borussia Moenchengladbach.
The defeat at Gladbach leaves Bruno Labbadia’s side sixth in the table and four points adrift of fifth-placed Werder Bremen with six games remaining and only the top five qualifying automatically for Europe.
“We were too naive,” Hamburg captain David Jarolim said. “We wanted to get into the top five, but now we have to pay attention we don’t lose sixth place.”
PHOTO: EPA
In a scrappy game, the winner came in the 43rd minute when Dutch defender Roel Brouwers poked the ball over the line after a goal-mouth scramble to give Gladbach only their third win in the last 10 games.
This was Hamburg’s third defeat in their last five league matches and leaves them 14 points behind new league leaders Schalke.
Hamburg brought on Burkina Faso midfielder Jonathan Pitroipa and Peru striker Paolo Guerrero, in his first match back since tearing his cruciate ligaments in September, in the second half but failed to seriously threaten the hard-working hosts.
Gladbach moved up to 34 points in 12th place all but securing their place in the Bundesliga next season.
Earlier, Freiburg drew 1-1 at Hoffenheim to remain in the drop zone.
The visitors had looked on course to escape the bottom three with a second consecutive win after Cameroon striker Mohamadou Idrissou stabbed home on 64 minutes following a mix-up in the Hoffenheim defense.
The hosts leveled, however, when Croatian defender Josip Simunic netted in the 79th minute.
The result leaves Freiburg third from bottom and if they remain there until the season ends on May 8, they will face a play-off with the third-placed team in the second division for the right to stay in the top flight.
On Saturday, a Kevin Kuranyi double put Schalke top following a 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen, as Bayern Munich lost.
Kuranyi scored both goals in the first half to put Schalke two points clear at the top with six games remaining.
Bayern suffered a second consecutive league defeat when they slumped to a 2-1 home loss to Stuttgart.
Bayern took the lead through Croatian striker Ivica Olic, but Stuttgart hit back with goals from Christian Traesch and Ciprian Marica to hand the Munich heavyweights their fourth defeat of the season.
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