Wolfsburg have been crowned champions for the first time in their history with a stylish 5-1 defeat of Werder Bremen.
Wolfsburg crowned champions for first time
Wolfsburg have been crowned Bundesliga champions for the first time in their history with a stylish 5-1 defeat of Werder Bremen, while Bayern Munich picked up second spot courtesy of a 2-1 win over third placed Stuttgart.
Having started the day aware that victory at home would guarantee them the title,
Wolfsburg made light work of a decent
Bremen side.
Within half an hour the champagne was being corked as Wolfsburg raced into a three-goal lead. Zvjezdan Misimovic steadied any nerves with a fifth minute opener.
In-form front-man Grafite was the next to get in on the act before Sebastian Prodl put through his own goal. Diego's strike for Bremen on 31 minutes caused the odd flutter, only for Grafite's second and Edin Dzeko's effort after the break to seal the title in style.
Bayern secured automatic qualification for next season's UEFA Champions League group stage courtesy of 2-1 win over
Stuttgart that saw Franck Ribery in the first half and Mark van Bommel in the second on target.
Mario Gomez started a fight back when he halved Bayern's advantage in the 63rd minute, but the Bavarian giants held on.
At the other end of the table, Arminia Bielefeld and Karlsruhe have been relegated, with third-from-bottom Energie Cottbus now facing a two-leg play-off with Nurnberg from the second tier to retain their status.
A 1-1 draw at home to
Borussia Dortmund proved enough for
Monchengladbach as Bonfirm da Costa Dante's goal on 57 minutes secured survival, despite Jakub Blaszcykowski's leveller not long after.
Cottbus signed off in style as they beat
Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 thanks to goals from Stiven Rivic (64) and a double from Enil Jula (50 & 69).
Karlsruhe bid farewell to the top flight empathically as they thumped
Hertha Berlin 4-0, with Sebastian Freis (33), Maik Franz (40) and Joshua Kennedy (62 & 72) all on target.
Bielefeld also suffered the drop after a 2-2 draw with
Hannover. Oliver Kirch gave Bielefeld the lead only for Jiri Stajner and Sergio Pinto to put Hannover in control. Artur Munteani's last minute leveller proved to be the scantest of consolations.
Hamburg won 3-2 away at
Frankfurt as Piotr Trochowski scored a last gasp winner. Earlier, Hamburg had raced into a two-goal lead through David Jarolim and Ivica Olic, only for Caio and Alexander Meier to restore parity, albeit briefly, for Frankfurt.
Schalke concluded their campaign with an entertaining 2-2 draw at home to
Hoffenheim.
Demba Ba opened the scoring for Hoffenheim in the 27th minute, but Schalke were leading by the break as both Mladen Krstajic and Jefferson Farfan netted. It was Hoffenheim's Carlos Eduardo that had the final say though as he finished the scoring in the 49th minute.
