Saturday 13 February 2016 20:34, UK
Bayer Leverkusen moved up to third in the Bundesliga for only the second time this season thanks to a 2-1 win at Darmstadt on Saturday.
An Aytac Sulu own goal and Julian Brandt effort cancelled out Sandro Wagner's opener in wet and muddy conditions at the Stadion am Bollenfalltor to get Roger Schmidt's men back on course for a place in the Champions League next season.
They benefited from Hertha Berlin's 2-0 defeat at Stuttgart to move ahead of the capital club on goal difference.
Geoffroy Serey Die and Filip Kostic scored the goals for the league's form team, with Stuttgart chalking up their fifth successive win and breaking into the top 10 for the first time this season.
In view of Schalke's defeat to Mainz on Friday night, Jurgen Kramny's men are now only six points away from a place in the Europa League next season, having been bottom of the table when he took over a few months ago.
The Swabians have now gone seven games unbeaten, which is the same number of games Europa League hopefuls Wolfsburg had gone without a win until Julian Draxler and Robin Knoche earned them a 2-0 victory over Ingolstadt.
On Wednesday, they are away to Gent in their first-ever Champions League knockout round fixture.
Further up the table, Henrik Mkhitaryan's second-half goal gave Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 win over bottom club Hannover, who have lost their last seven games.
Hoffenheim's 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen in Julian Nagelsmann's first game in charge ensures Hannover are now alone at the foot of the table, while Cologne beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 in the day's late game.
