Striker Hugo Almeida helped Werder Bremen maintain their stranglehold over Hamburg on Sunday as a 2-0 win seriously dented their rivals’ Bundesliga title aspirations.
The defeat leaves Martin Jol’s Hamburg sixth in the league — and outside the European places — five points behind leaders Wolfsburg with only three games left before the season finishes on May 23.
This was the fourth meeting between the two teams in 19 days and with Bremen having taken the spoils in both the German Cup and UEFA Cup meetings, Werder also took three more points off Hamburg at the Weserstadion.
PHOTO: AP
“We take this game very seriously,” said Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf.
“The team worked hard the whole week and we were rewarded for with a good win,” he said. “It was great to see the players getting the reward.”
The Hamburg defense was caught out for both goals as Almeida rifled home having been left unmarked on 34 minutes and then took advantage of a cross from Mesut Oezil to seal the win on 49 minutes.
“Both teams were fighting hard in the first half,” Jol said. “But there was a certain lethargy in both teams.”
Having won 3-2 at Hamburg in the UEFA Cup semi-final on Thursday to book their place in the Istanbul final on May 20, the three Bundesliga points on Sunday leaves Bremen tenth.
But the club will have to do without the services of defender Per Mertesacker for the rest of the season after he picked up an ankle injury in Thursday’s win.
Also on Sunday, Borussia Moenchengladbach pulled themselves out of the bottom three and into 15th with a 1-0 win at home to Schalke 04.
On Saturday Mario Gomez scored all four goals in Stuttgart’s 4-1 win over league leaders Wolfsburg to blow open the title race.
With Bayern Munich, Hertha Berlin and Stuttgart all picking up three points, there are now just two points separating the top four sides with only three games left.
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