Bayern extend Bundesliga lead to eight as Bremen drop into trouble

Bayern Munich opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga once again with a 3-1 win at Stuttgart on Saturday.

Georg Niedermeier’s own goal put the Bavarians in front after half an hour and David Alaba doubled their lead before Daniel Didavi made things interesting with what turned out to be only a consolation for the hosts, as Douglas Costa finished them off late on.

Borussia Dortmund can return to within five points when they face Schalke on Sunday, but with games running out, Bayern have edged that little bit closer towards a fourth straight Bundesliga title.

Augsburg moved out of the bottom three and dumped Werder Bremen into it as they came from behind to win 2-1 at the Weser Stadion.

Florian Grillitsch put Bremen in front with his first goal of the season just before half-time, but goals from Alfred Finnbogason and Hong Jeong-ho turned the tables on Viktor Skripnik’s men.

Hoffenheim continued their rise up the table with a 2-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt which leaves the Eagles inside the bottom two with five games of the season remaining.

Substitutes Nadiem Amiri and Mark Uth scored the goals which lift Julian Nagelsmann’s men three points clear of the relegation play-off berth and condemn Niko Kovac to a third defeat in four games in charge.

Ingolstadt all but mathematically ensured their place in the Bundesliga next season with a 1-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach which takes them closer to a place in Europe next term than relegation.

Moritz Hartmann scored the all-important goal just three minutes from the final whistle when, at full stretch, he converted a flick by Almog Cohen from Mathew Leckie’s cross for his ninth goal of the season.

Darmstadt took an important step away from the relegation zone with a 2-1 win at Hamburg, who still have work to do to secure their own place in the German top flight.

Aytac Sulu and Jerome Gondorf scored either side of half-time to put Darmstadt — the fourth-best team away from home in the Bundesliga this season — in control of the game.

Lewis Holtby pulled one back in stoppage time, but it was too little too late for Hamburg, who are just six points clear of the relegation play-off berth they have taken at the end of their last two campaigns.