Bundesliga top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a last-gasp winner to give Borussia Dortmund a nail-biting 4-3 victory over Werder Bremen on Saturday and secure its automatic Champions League group stage spot.
Aubameyang, who scored twice to be crowned top scorer with 31 goals, one ahead of Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, converted an 89th minute penalty in the final round of the Bundesliga matches to see Dortmund finish third on 64 points and seal the big European bonus.
It left Dortmund two points clear of fourth-placed Hoffenheim, which drew 0-0 against Augsburg and will now go into the Champions League qualifying rounds.
Champions Bayern Munich provided a fitting farewell for retiring captain Philipp Lahm and Spaniard Xabi Alonso with a 4-1 victory over Freiburg to wrap up their runaway fifth successive title triumph by 15 points.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side finished on 82 points, with Leipzig, which squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Eintracht Frankfurt, ending up second on 67, Dortmund third on 64 and Hoffenheim fourth on 62.
Cologne beat Mainz 05 2-0 to hold on to fifth place on 49 points and a Europa League spot next season, its first European foray in 25 years.
Hertha Berlin, sixth on 49 points, will also play in Europe despite its 6-2 demolition by Bayer Leverkusen while the Europa League ambitions of Freiburg, seventh on 48, is reliant on Dortmund winning the German Cup next week.
Hamburg SV protected its proud record as the only club to have played in Bundesliga every season since its creation in 1963 thanks to Luca Waldschmidt’s dramatic 89th minute goal that sealed a 2-1 win over VfL Wolfsburg.
Espanyol eighth
In La Liga, Espanyol climbed to the eighth spot with a 2-1 victory over relegation-bound Granada, which ends the season at the bottom of the standings.
The opening eight minutes of the match on Friday offered a microcosm of Granada’s disastrous campaign. Leo Baptistao put Espanyol ahead in the third minute, exploiting a poor clearance by host defender David Lomban.
The visitors’ lead doubled to 2-0 just five minutes later, when Granada’s Ruben Vezo inadvertently deflected a Baptistao cross into his own net.
With a comfortable advantage over the worst team in the Spanish top flight, Espanyol relaxed, creating opportunities for Andreas Pereira, Granada’s best player. The Brazilian tested visiting goalkeeper Diego Lopez at the quarter-hour mark before beating him with a shot from distance in the 22nd minute to make the score 2-1.
The results: Bundesliga: On Saturday: Ingolstadt 1 (Pascal 41-pen) drew with Schalke 1 (Avdijaj 2); Bayern Munich 4 (Robben 4, Vidal 73, Ribery 90+1, Kimmich 90+4) bt Freiburg 1 (Petersen 76); Borussia Dortmund 4 (Reus 32 & 75-pen), Aubameyang 42, 89-pen) bt Werder Bremen 3 (Junuzovic 7, Bartels 45+1, Kruse 68); Borussia Monchenglabach 2 (Hazard 50, Raffael 65) drew with Darmstadt 2 (Schipplock 62, Heller 90); Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (Vallejo 83, Blum 90) drew with Leipzig 2 (Sabitzer 25, Poulsen 56); FC Cologne 2 (Hector 43, Osako 87) bt Mainz 0; Hamburg 2 (Kostic 32, Waldschmidt 88) bt Wolfsburg 1 (Knoche 23); Hertha Berlin 2 (Weiser 71 Allagui 86-pen) lost to 6 (Hernandez, Havertz 31 & 45+1, Kiesling 64-pen, Aranguiz 81-pen, Pohjanpalo 90).
La Liga: On Friday: Espanyol 2 (Leo Baptistao 3, Ruben Vezo og-8) bt Granada 1 (Andreas Pereira 22) .
