Berlin: Andrej Kramaric’s double helped Hoffenheim to a 3-1 win at Hertha Berlin on Friday to boost their chances of Champions League football next season.
The Croatian’s brace and a goal from Niklas Suele pushed Hoffenheim into provisional third on 48 points, two clear of fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund.
The top three Bundesliga teams gain direct qualification to the Champions League, with the fourth-placed going into the play-offs.
Hoffenheim are coached by Julian Nagelsmann, at 29 the youngest head coach in Bundesliga history who last week was named Germany’s manager of 2016.
Hoffenheim had keeper Oliver Baumann to thank in the 17th minute when he denied Salomon Kalou and cleared the rebound off the line.
But Hertha’s Slovak defender Pekarik did better for the hosts in the 32nd, firing home from 15 metres for his first league goal in his 151st Bundesliga appearance.
The visitors levelled with Kramaric’s 39th minute spot kick following Mittelstaedt’s handball and, with Hertha’s first-half pace evaporating after the break, the hosts suffered another blow when Mittelstaedt was dismissed for a second booking.
Croatian Kramaric will be asking himself how he failed to score again in the 66th when he fired a thundering shot onto the crossbar and then volleyed the rebound against the post.
Two minutes later it was Hoffenheim midfielder Kerem Demirbay’s turn to have a go before Suele scored with his 30-metre missile. Kramaric then tapped in the third goal in the 86th to complete a winning night for the visitors.
In La Liga, Espanyol scored two late goals to earn a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Real Betis in the Spanish league. Ruben Castro gave the visitors the lead by converting a 78th-minute penalty kick, but Javi Fuego equalised in the 87th and Jose Antonio Reyes netted a 90th-minute winner with a superb shot into the upper corner.
“I hit that shot with my soul,” Reyes said. “You have to hit it with your soul.”
The result moved Espanyol to eighth place in the standings, in position to fight for a Europa League spot next season.
Betis stayed 13th, 10 above the relegation zone.
“It’s bad luck,” Betis captain Joaquin Sanchez Rodriguez said. “We deserved at least a point after the match that we played.”
