Bundesliga round-up: Albin Ekdal chooses key moment to open his Hamburg account
Sunday 5 March 2017 19:31, UK
Albin Ekdal's first goal for Hamburg clinched a 1-0 home win against Hertha Berlin that gives their Bundesliga survival hopes a major boost.
The Sweden international lashed in a 77th-minute winner as Hamburg bounced back from last weekend's humiliating 8-0 defeat at Bayern Munich and their midweek DFB-Pokal exit at the hands of Borussia Monchengladbach.
Ekdal fired into the top corner from inside the penalty area after being played in by Aaron Hunt and although Hamburg stay in the bottom three, they have moved level on points with the team immediately above them, Wolfsburg.
Hertha began the day in fifth place, but failed to close the gap on Hoffenheim in their bid for a Champions League place.
Florian Niederlechner scored twice as Freiburg came from behind to win 2-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt.
The home side took an early lead through Branimir Hrgota's emphatic finish, but Niederlechner was on the end of a swift counter-attack to level for Freiburg midway through the first half and struck the winner just before the hour mark.
Freiburg climbed up two places to eighth, two points behind Frankfurt, who still occupy the final Europa League berth despite going down to a fourth successive defeat.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Bayer Leverkusen sacked head coach Roger Schmidt following Saturday's 6-2 defeat at Borussia Dortmund.
