BERLIN (AP) — Jamie Leweling scored twice and Stuttgart routed Wolfsburg 4-0 to boost its chances of Champions League qualification while leaving the visitors in the Bundesliga’s relegation zone on Sunday.
Deniz Undav started Stuttgart’s party in the 21st and Leweling made it 2-0 nine minutes later after another well-worked team move, before grabbing his second with a deflected shot in the 42nd.
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Stuttgart eased up in the second half. Substitute Nikolas Nartey completed the scoring in stoppage time with another deflected shot that squirmed in off the far post.
Stuttgart consolidated fourth place, the last for Champions League qualification, with 10 rounds remaining. Leipzig was five points behind Stuttgart before its game at Hamburger SV later Sunday. Bayer Leverkusen was six points behind Stuttgart before visiting Hamburg for their postponed 17th-round game on Wednesday.
Wolfsburg dropped to second-last after its fifth defeat from a run of seven games without a win. The Volkswagen-backed team’s coach Daniel Bauer is its second this season after he took over – initially on an interim basis – from the fired Paul Simonis in November.
Traveling Wolfsburg fans brought a giant banner saying “relegation fight,” as if they needed to inform the players of their predicament.
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Eintracht Frankfurt hosted Freiburg later Sunday.
Bayern Munich is the heavy favorite to win the league again after its 3-2 win over closest rival Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker on Saturday. The Bavarian powerhouse is 11 points clear and has only dropped points in four games from 24 so far this season.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
