Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt secured their spots in the Champions League on the final day of the Bundesliga season, which concluded on Saturday. This success meant Freiburg settled for an Europa League place.
Dortmund secured fourth place, achieving the last available spot for Champions League qualification with a commanding 3-0 victory against already-demoted Holstein Kiel. Kiel was reduced to 10 players less than 10 minutes into the match. This marked a stunning recovery under coach Niko Kova?, who took over in February when Dortmund was struggling in 11th place. The team finished the season on a high note, winning its last five Bundesliga encounters.
Eintracht Frankfurt maintained its third position by defeating Freiburg 3-1, which dropped Freiburg to fifth in the standings, two points behind Dortmund. Freiburg needed a win to secure Champions League qualification but fell short.
Elsewhere, Mainz grappled with three disallowed goals and ended up drawing 2-2 with Bayer Leverkusen to claim a spot in the Conference League in sixth place, just a point ahead of Leipzig. Leipzig missed out on European qualification after suffering a home defeat to Stuttgart, losing 3-2. Stuttgart will meet Arminia Bielefeld in the German Cup final next weekend.
Bayern Munich, having already clinched the title two rounds earlier, capped off their season with a resounding 4-0 victory at Hoffenheim, marking Thomas Müller’s last Bundesliga appearance for the club. Müller featured in an impressive 503 matches. In the final half-hour, Harry Kane replaced Müller, set up Serge Gnabry for Bayern’s third goal, and then netted his league-leading 26th goal to complete the scoring. This achievement marked Kane as the top-scorer in the Bundesliga for the second year in a row.
As Mainz fought for European qualification, Leverkusen focused on the future during the final game for coach Xabi Alonso and several players. Although Mainz initially had two early goals ruled out for offside and another disallowed via VAR, Anthony Caci eventually secured a deserved lead for the home team. However, Leverkusen transformed after the break, with Patrik Schick scoring twice and jeopardizing Mainz’s European aspirations. A penalty from Jonathan Burkardt ensured Mainz stayed ahead of Leipzig, who couldn’t hold onto a lead against Stuttgart twice. Leverkusen set a new Bundesliga record with their 34th away game without a defeat.
In other matches, Heidenheim remained in the relegation playoff position after a 4-1 defeat at home to Werder Bremen. Frank Schmidt’s squad will face a two-leg playoff against the third-place team from the second division to decide Bundesliga participation next season. Meanwhile, the bottom club, Bochum, concluded their relegation journey with a 2-0 win at St. Pauli, marking their first victory since a surprising 3-2 away win over Bayern in early March. Additionally, Wolfsburg triumphed over Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0, and Union Berlin secured a 2-1 win in Augsburg.