Bundesliga Roundup: Hertha Berlin relegated, Schalke 04 in trouble

The penultimate matchday of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season saw Borussia Dortmund take a giant step towards the title, as their rivals Schalke 04 sank in deep relegation trouble.

Matchday 33 of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season is in the books and it was full of twists and turns, as the title race, relegation battle, and the race for European qualification all took dramatic turns. Borussia Dortmund were the biggest winners of the matchday, as they defeated FC Augsburg 3-0 to move two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga standings.

Sebastien Haller continued his incredible run of form by scoring a brace, before Julian Brandt added a third to put BVB one win away from winning the Bundesliga title.

Bayern Munich’s hopes of retaining their Bundesliga crown took a massive blow, as they fell to a 3-1 defeat to RB Leipzig. Konrad Laimer, Christopher Nkunku and Dominik Szoboszlai scored in the second half after Serge Gnabry had given Bayern the lead, as Marco Rose did his former club a huge favour.

On the other end of the table, Hertha Berlin became the first club to be relegated from the Bundesliga this season. They were held to a 1-1 draw by fellow relegation battlers VfL Bochum and will now spend next season in the second division. Bochum are now 16th in the Bundesliga standings, one point clear of 17th place.

Schalke 04 currently occupy the second automatic relegation spot, and are one point shy of safety. But they remain in the hunt to avoid relegation after coming from behind to earn a 2-2 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt. Sebastian Polter rescued a point for Schalke late on, after goals from Tuta and Daichi Kamada had given the Eagles the lead following Simon Terodde’s early opener.

VfB Stuttgart boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation by earning a 4-1 win away to Mainz 05. Goals from Wataru Endo, Serhou Guirassy, Chris Führich, and Tanguy Coulibaly helped Stuttgart earn three precious points and move up to 15th place in the Bundesliga standings.

The race to finish in the top four will also go down to the final day of the season, after SC Freiburg beat Wolfsburg 2-0 to move level on points with fourth placed Union Berlin. Christian Günter and Nils Petersen were both on target for Christian Streich’s side, who are only behind the Berliners on goal difference.

Union Berlin’s hopes of Champions League qualification suffered a blow, as they were beaten 4-2 by TSG Hoffenheim. A brace from Andrej Kramarić helped TSG Hoffenheim secure their Bundesliga status for another year. Munas Dabbur and Ilhas Bebou were also on target for Hoffenheim, while Danilho Doekhi and Aissa Laidouni scored for Union Berlin.

Bayer Leverkusen moved up to sixth place despite being held to a 2-2 draw by Borussia Mönchengladbach. Xabi Alonso’s side raced to a two goal lead, with Amine Adli and Kerem Demirbay finding the back of the net. But Jonas Hofmann sparked a second half comeback for Gladbach, before Lars Stindl scored an 89th minute equaliser.

FC Köln and Werder Bremen played out a 1-1 draw, with Romano Schmid canceling out Steffen Tigges’ first half opener.