Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund reaches the Champions League

"What Niko has achieved here is one of the greatest coaching achievements in the history of BVB," said Lars Ricken, Borussia Dortmund 's sporting director. On the final matchday of the Bundesliga, the club finally achieved its goal for the season. With a 3-0 win against relegated Holstein Kiel, BVB moved up from fifth to fourth place in the table, which qualifies for participation in the Champions League .

"Considering where we stood in the table on matchday 26, you can't really do that," said club chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke. Indeed, Dortmund had returned to form at just the right time. They had started the season poorly and replaced coach Nuri Sahin with Kovac during the winter break, under whom things didn't go well at first either.

After 26 matchdays, they were only eleventh, ten points behind fourth place. But in the last eight games of the season, Kovac and his team picked up 22 out of a possible 24 points. "Niko paid attention to the little details, he gave a lot of warnings. He's extremely experienced and worked hard," praised BVB's leading player Julian Brandt. Team captain Emre Can cited "mentality" as an important factor.

Kovac himself didn't want much praise for his performance. "The bottom line is, we're all happy and pleased, but there's no reason to celebrate," he said. BVB has been in the Champions League every year in recent years, and now they are again. "I did my job here, and you can't achieve anything in football alone. You need everyone."

Freiburg coach Schuster: "We have nothing to lose"

The victim of Dortmund's success is SC Freiburg. Freiburg, who were fourth before the final matchday and on the verge of reaching the Champions League for the first time in their club's history, lost their home match against Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1. They now compete in the Europa League in fifth place.

SC coach Julian Schuster, who qualified for the European Cup in his first season as Freiburg coach, nevertheless saw it as a positive: "We didn't lose anything today. We were fighting for something sensational, but we didn't win it," he said.

Four times no goal for Mainz against Leverkusen

FSV Mainz 05 finished sixth in the final table, one place behind Freiburg, and thus also qualified for the European Cup. Mainz will participate in the Conference League playoffs.

"I said I wanted to celebrate something other than staying in the league this season. And I think I kept my word," said midfielder Nadiem Amiri after the 2-2 draw against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the last game.

The match was a strange one and cost Mainz some nerves. The video referee intervened four times and disallowed a goal. "I've never seen that in my life. It was crazy," said coach Bo Henriksen.

Mainz ultimately managed a one-point victory, as rival RB Leipzig lost 3-2 to VfB Stuttgart. Finishing seventh in the table, Leipzig are now out of the European competition for the first time since their promotion to the Bundesliga in 2016.

Leverkusen, where championship-winning coach Xabi Alonso was last on the sidelines, set a new Bundesliga record with the draw in Mainz. They are now unbeaten on the road in 34 consecutive matches.

Heidenheim has to go into relegation

After Kiel and VfL Bochum had already been determined as the two teams directly relegated for a week, the relegation battle on the last matchday was still about who would finish in 16th place and have to play in the relegation play-offs to stay in the Bundesliga.

1. FC Heidenheim would have needed a win to save their 15th-place finish, with TSG Hoffenheim losing at the same time. Although Hoffenheim lost 4-0 to FC Bayern Munich , Heidenheim failed to do their part. They suffered a clear 4-1 home defeat to Werder Bremen and thus remained in 16th place.

"It's about putting the regular season behind us and preparing for what's to come," said FCH coach Frank Schmidt . "I'm disappointed about this game and the way it played out. But not about the fact that we're playing relegation. We have a chance to stay in the league with two extra games, and we're approaching those games with determination and a positive attitude."

Heidenheim's opponent on May 22 and 26 is SV Elversberg, who finished third in the 2. Bundesliga. The second promoted team alongside Hamburger SV is 1. FC Köln, who secured second place in the league table with a 4-0 win against 1. FC Kaiserslautern on Sunday.

Results and scorers of the 34th Bundesliga matchday:

RB Leipzig - VfB Stuttgart 2:3 (2:1) Goals: 1:0 Xavi (8th), 1:1 Undav (23rd), 2:1 Baku (44th), 2:2 Woltemade (57th), 2:3 Demirovic (78th)

Borussia Dortmund - Holstein Kiel 3:0 (1:0) Goals: 1:0 Guirassy (3rd/foul penalty), 2:0 Sabitzer (47th), 3:0 F. Nmecha (73rd)

TSG Hoffenheim - Bayern Munich 0:4 (0:1) Goals: 0:1 Olise (33rd), 0:2 Kimmich (53rd), 0:3 Gnabry (80th), 0:4 Kane (86th)

1. FC Heidenheim - Werder Bremen 1:4 (0:2) Goals: 0:1 R. Schmid (14th/penalty), 0:2 Stage (33rd), 0:3 Ducksch (66th), 1:3 Kerber (80th), 1:4 Topp (86th)

SC Freiburg - Eintracht Frankfurt 1:3 (1:1) Goals: 1:0 Doan (27th), 1:1 Knauff (45th+4), 1:2 Kristensen (61st), 1:3 Skhiri (63rd)

FSV Mainz 05 - Bayer Leverkusen 2:2 (1:0) Goals: 1-0 Nebel (35th), 1-1 Schick (49th/penalty), 1-2 Schick (54th), 2-2 Burkardt (63rd/penalty)

FC St. Pauli - VfL Bochum 0:2 (0:1) Goals: 0:1 Boadu (10th), 0:2 Boadu (66th)

Borussia Mönchengladbach - VfL Wolfsburg 0:1 (0:0) Goals: 0:1 L. Nmecha (51.)

FC Augsburg - Union Berlin 1:2 (1:0) Goals: 1-0 Tietz (41st), 1-1 Ilic (69th), 1-2 Ilic (90th+4th)