While Bundesliga record champions FC Bayern München seem on course for a record fourth consecutive title, relegation candidates SV Darmstadt, 1899 Hoffenheim and FC Augsburg claimed crucial victories in their quest to avoid relegation. Darmstadt earned a 2-1 win away at Hamburger SV, TSG recorded a 2-0 home win over direct opponents Eintracht Frankfurt and Augsburg fought back from 1-0 down against fellow relegation candidates SV Werder Bremen to win 2-1 on matchday 29.
Stuttgart – currently 12th on 33 points – also remain in the relegation battle following their 3-1 home defeat to table toppers FC Bayern. Borussia Dortmund will have the chance to close the gap back to five points on Sunday, as they are hosted by FC Schalke in the heavily anticipated Ruhr derby.
Ingolstadt continue to impress
Borussia Mönchengladbach suffered a setback in the fight for a Champions League spot, losing 1-0 to newly promoted FC Ingolstadt, who now find themselves in eighth place with 39 points to their name. Moritz Hartmann grabbed the winning goal after 88 minutes as Ingolstadt put themselves virtually clear of relegation.
In the evening fixture, VfL Wolfsburg drew 1-1 with Gladbach's direct challengers FSV Mainz 05, with Mainz missing the chance to overtake André Schubert's side. World Cup winner André Schürrle put the Wolves into the lead with a nice dink over the goalkeeper, but Jairo Sampeiro levelled the scores a quarter of an hour later. Wolfsburg ended the game with ten men after Dante received a red card in injury time for a second bookable offence.
Skipper Aytac Sulu and Jerome Gondorf scored either side of half-time for Darmstadt in Hamburg, with Lewis Holtby pulling one back in stoppage time of the second half. Hoffenheim were victorious after goals from substitute Nadiem Amiri shortly after the hour mark and Mark Uth in the 90th minute.
Stuttgart own goal paves way to Bayern victory
Bremen took the lead against Augsburg through Florian Grillitsch shortly before the break and they remained the more active side in the second half, but goals from Alfred Finnbogason and Jeong-Ho Hong fired Augsburg to a vital victory.
Table toppers FC Bayern were handed the lead after 31 minutes when Georg Niedermeier scored an unfortunate own goal. David Alaba doubled Bayern’s advantage after the break, but Daniel Didavi fired Stuttgart back into the game with his strike ten minutes later. Douglas Costa scored spectacularly late to restore Bayern’s two goal lead and see his side go eight points clear.