Stuttgart and Schalke suffer nervous defeats

Schalke 04 suffered a 2-1 derby defeat by Borussia Dortmund yesterday while VfB Stuttgart lost 2-0 at relegated Bochum to leave the race for Champions League places wide open with one game left.

The two nervy defeats left Schalke clinging to second place in the Bundesliga with 60 points, 14 behind runaway champions Bayern Munich and two ahead of third-placed Stuttgart.

The top two qualify directly for the Champions League with the third-placed team going into the final qualifying round.

Hertha Berlin also dropped points, managing only a goalless draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach, but it was enough to keep them in with a chance of claiming a top three finish.

Werder Bremen, last season's double winners, revived their hopes of returning to Europe's top club competition with a 4-1 win at home to Freiburg.

With 33 games played, Hertha are in fourth place on 57 points, while Bremen are fifth with 56.

Bayern Munich, who clinched the league title two weeks ago, celebrated their final game at the Olympic Stadium with a 6-3 win over Nuremberg.

Moenchengladbach's draw with Hertha was enough to safeguard their first division future, while sealing relegation for Hansa Rostock and Bochum. They will join Freiburg in the second division next season.

Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick was left hugely frustrated by the home defeat by Dortmund but with a game at bottom club Freiburg to look forward to on the final day he remained confident of his side's Champions League chances.

"It was a very, very lucky win for Dortmund," he said. "We had a lot of chances and if we go to Freiburg with the same attitude I'm optimistic about us making the Champions League without needing any favours."

Local rivals

Schalke fell behind to local rivals Dortmund in the 17th minute when Sebastian Kehl headed in a Tomas Rosicky corner.

Tomasz Waldoch produced a fine near-post header from Lincoln's free kick to equalise two minutes later but Schalke missed a series of chances and paid the price when Lars Ricken stroked in the winner three minutes before halftime.

Stuttgart had the better of the first half against Bochum but were second best after the break and fell behind when Vratislav Lokvenc nodded down for Zvjezdan Misimovic to score with a sweet finish on the hour. Lokvenc got the second himself 11 minutes later.