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Wolfsburg, Stuttgart highlight key Bundesliga games

Fri 9th, May 2008

Wolfsburg, Germany (Sports Network) - Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath described Saturday's Bundesliga match against Stuttgart as a "final."

Wolfsburg has climbed from 11th at the halfway point of the season to seventh - only Bayern Munich and Schalke have more points in the second half - and has two games left to try and qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Wolfsburg and Stuttgart are among five teams battling for the two spots in the UEFA Cup - Bayern, Werder Bremen and Schalke already have the Champions League berths secured.

Saturday's full schedule - eight of the nine matches will help decide either a European spot or relegation - is highlighted by Stuttgart's trip to Volkswagen Arena.

"We have a real final match here at home for the UEFA Cup against Stuttgart," Magath said. "Now that we're so close, we want to move into international football."

Wolfsburg is unbeaten in its last three, tying Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern and defeating Eintracht earlier this week. Wolfsburg is seventh but just three off Stuttgart and Hamburg - two teams with 51 points and in the final two European spots.

Stuttgart and Hamburg had opportunities to open six-point cushions this week, but both lost. Stuttgart, despite two goals from Mario Gomez, was defeated by Borussia Dortmund, 3-2.

"There are only two games left for us to play now. Before this game we planned to win the final three matches, but now we must win the last two," Gomez said.

"We just have to put that game behind us now and focus our attention on the final two matches," Stuttgart captain Pavel Pardo said.

In the other games involving UEFA Cup contenders, eighth-place Hannover plays at Werder Bremen, which is trying to secure second place in the league. Sixth- place Bayer Leverkusen visits Rostock, which is last in the league and needs a lot of help to avoid relegation. Hamburg visits Energie, which is two points clear of the drop zone.

Three other clubs in the relegation struggle - Arminia Bielefeld, Duisburg and Nurnberg - face different tasks this week. Arminia Bielefeld hosts Dortmund, which just clinched its survival, Duisburg hosts champions Bayern and Nurnberg visits Hertha Berlin.

Schalke, which has been the second-best team in the second half of the season, hosts Eintracht with an eye on second place. The second-place team goes right to the group stage of the Champions League and the third-place team has to go through qualifying.

The only meaningless match this week is Bochum at Karlsruher. Bochum is clear of the relegation zone and Karlsruher, the surprise of the league for most of the season, can no longer qualify for the UEFA Cup.

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