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Sports

Schalke tussles with Hamburg in important European clash

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Gelsenkirchen, Germany – With the top two places pretty much secured, the race for the final European spots takes center stage in Germany over the final four matches.

Bayern Munich has clinched the league title, while Borussia Dortmund sits in second place and has already sealed a berth in the Champions League next season.

Third-place Bayer Leverkusen is nearly there as well, needing two wins from its last four games to join the top two in Europe's premier club competition.

So that leaves a tight race for not only the remaining Champions League places but also the Europa League spots as well.

Schalke enters the weekend in fourth place, but sits just two points above eighth-place Hamburg, which visits the Arena AufSchalke on Sunday.

The home side has earned one point from its previous two games and a loss would put them in danger of dropping all the way to eighth, while Hamburg is seeking its third successive win to jump into the mix for a top-four spot.

Freiburg sits only one point back of Schalke but faces a daunting test at Bayern Munich, which rolled over Barcelona in the Champions League in midweek, 4-0.

Eintracht is level with Freiburg on 45 points and faces a slightly easier test at mid-table Mainz.

Monchengladbach is also in the discussion with 44 points and the club has won three of its last five contests ahead of a visit to Wolfsburg on Saturday.

At the opposite end of the table, second-from-the-bottom Hoffenheim will be desperate for three points at home against Nurnberg, while Augsburg sits three points from safety and hosts Stuttgart.

Dusseldorf is three points above the bottom three and entertains Borussia Dortmund, which is coming off of a 4-1 hammering of Real Madrid in the Champions League.

The other contest on Saturday features Bayer Leverkusen attempting to move closer to a Champions League place with a win at home over Werder Bremen.

Friday's match saw Hannover secure a 3-2 win at last-place Greuther Furth as Sergio Pinto scored the winning goal in the 87th minute after a brace from Furth's Nikola Djurdjic.