Bundesliga Saturday: Leipzig book Champions League return as Stuttgart rally past Leverkusen

RB Leipzig will play in the Champions League again next term after a nervy finish brought them a 2-1 home victory over St Pauli that locked down third place in Germany’s top division on Saturday.

Leipzig had looked comfortable at 2-0, with both strikes coming from corner routines: Xaver Schlager turned in a loose ball on the stroke of half-time and Willi Orban nodded in soon after the restart.

St Pauli, fighting the drop, rallied when Abdoulie Ceesay struck in the 86th minute, with Jackson Irvine supplying a rare long-range header into the danger area.

The campaign marks a sharp rebound for Leipzig, who ended last season seventh—their poorest Bundesliga placing—and were beaten in seven of eight Champions League outings.

St Pauli sat second from bottom in the 18-club table after stretching a winless streak to nine matches. Their bid to avoid the drop still has a pulse because Wolfsburg, one place above the relegation playoff spot, fell 1-0 to newly crowned champions Bayern Munich later the same day. The final round will pit St Pauli against Wolfsburg on equal points; a draw would suffice for Wolfsburg.

Elsewhere, Deniz Undav’s 19th league goal completed a 3-1 fightback for Stuttgart against Bayer Leverkusen and kept the Swabians in the fourth Champions League berth. Aleix Garcia had put Leverkusen ahead from a counterattack just 34 seconds in, but Ermedin Demirovic equalised after five minutes and then earned a penalty that Maximilian Mittelstädt tucked away for a half-time lead. Undav, the division’s second-leading marksman behind Bayern’s Harry Kane, swept in a third from Jamie Leweling’s delivery. Leverkusen stayed sixth with only faint hopes of climbing into the top four.

Hoffenheim drew level on points with fifth-placed Stuttgart by beating Werder Bremen 1-0, aided when Bremen’s Yukinari Sugawara saw red in the fifth minute for a studs-up lunge. Bazoumana Touré netted the winner from a corner taken in a hurry.

Augsburg climbed to ninth after a 3-1 defeat of Borussia Mönchengladbach, keeping them in the hunt for the Conference League next season.