Leverkusen seal top-three place

Bayer Leverkusen clinched a place in the Champions League while Werder Bremen squandered a 2-0 lead in the last five minutes and were held 2-2 by Hoffenheim in a Bundesliga relegation battle yesterday.

Leverkusen’s 2-0 win at Nuremberg, helped by a second-half penalty from Bundesliga joint top scorer Stefan Kiessling, ensured a top-three finish with two games to spare, sending them straight into the Champions League group stage next season.

Kiessling, whose exploits have not been enough to convince Germany coach Joachim Loew to call him up, took his tally to 23 goals, level with Borussia Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski. It will be Leverkusen’s eighth group stage appearance.

In the evening match, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer saved a Lewandowski penalty as champions Bayern Munich drew 1-1 at second-placed Borussia Dortmund, only three weeks before they meet in the Champions League final at Wembley.

Bayern then had full-back Rafinha sent off for elbowing as tempers flared between the two bitter rivals.

The goals came in the first half as Kevin Grosskreutz side-footed Dortmund ahead and Mario Gomez headed an equaliser for Bayern, who failed to win a Bundesliga game for the first time since the winter break.

Mainz’s Nicolai Mueller ran half the length of the pitch to score in the 2-2 draw at Hanover 96 while bottom club Greuther Fuerth, already relegated, won 2-0 at Stuttgart.

Fifth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt beat strugglers Fortuna Duesseldorf 3-1.

Bremen, uncomfortably close to the relegation zone, looked certain to end their 10-match winless run as they raced to a 2-0 lead against one-from-bottom Hoffenheim.

They got a perfect start when Aaron Hunt was bundled over by David Abraham after only 25 seconds and the referee pointed to the spot, although replays suggested it happened just outside the area.

Hunt converted, Belgian Kevin de Bruyne added another after 24 minutes and Bremen coasted through the second half only to see their work undone in the last five minutes.

Sven Schipplock ran onto to Sejad Salihovic’s incisive pass to fire the ball into the roof of the net and he scored again from close range in stoppage time as the home defence was caught napping.

Bremen stayed 14th with 33 points, only three ahead of 16th-placed Augsburg who are in the relegation play-off spot and visit Freiburg today.

The consolation for Bremen, who have missed only one season in the top flight in the Bundesliga’s 50-year history, was Fortuna’s defeat at Frankfurt, which left them 15th with 30 points. Hoffenheim have 28 points, two behind Augsburg.

Mueller scored the goal of the day when he collected a misplaced pass near the halfway line, nutmegged an opponent and ran on to fire past Ron-Robert Zieler in the 25th minute for Mainz against Hanover.

Artur Sobiech and Mame Biram Diouf replied for Hanover before Mueller struck again in the 79th minute.

Frankfurt’s win, helped by an Alexander Meier brace, kept them three points behind fourth-placed Schalke, who are in the Champions League play-off spot after their 1-0 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday.