Pizarro strike edges Bremen closer to Europe

Werder Bremen moved a step closer to a European place for next season when their ex-Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro scored a late goal to seal their 1-0 win at Hoffenheim on Sunday.

Bremen were heading to a 0-0 draw before Pizarro popped up in the 81st-minute to mark his 100th Bundesliga appearance by lobbing Hoffenheim goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand.

It was the Peruvian’s 11th league goal of the season and showed why Bremen were prepared to pay English giants Chelsea two millions euros for him last August to bring him back from the Premier League.

The result leaves Bremen sixth in the table and one-point from the top five which would qualify them for a place in Europe with eight league games left this season.

“Today we have been shown again why we made such an effort to bring him back,” said Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf whose side drew 1-1 with Valencia in the Europa League last Thursday.

“Claudio can be vital in such a game, last Thursday’s match clearly took a lot out of us.”

On Saturday, Bayern Munich suffered a Champions League hangover before Dutch winger Arjen Robben – another former Chelsea player – scored twice to seal a 2-1 win over strugglers Freiburg to put the hosts back on top of the Bundesliga.

After Tuesday’s away goals victory over Fiorentina, which saw them make the Champions League’s quarter-finals, Bayern went behind when Freiburg striker Cedrick Makiadi rifled in a 20-metre shot on 31 minutes.

The hosts looked lethargic before Dutch international Robben scored his ninth league goal of the season, when he drilled home a free-kick on 76 minutes.

And he then completed Munich’s fightback by converting an 83rd-minute penalty to put Bayern two points clear of second-placed Schalke 04.

Earlier rock-bottom Hertha Berlin slipped closer to relegation after suffering a 2-1 home defeat to fellow strugglers Nuremberg who grabbed an injury-time winner.

Police made 30 arrests and four officers were injured as Hertha fans rampaged through Berlin’s Olympic Stadium after Nuremberg’s Greece striker Angelos Charisteas scored the winner in stoppage time.

Their second straight wins lifts Nuremberg up to 15th and out of the relegation zone.

Dortmund moved up to fourth with a 4-1 victory at Bochum while Wolfsburg claimed their fourth-straight league win under caretaker manager Lorenz-Guenther Koestner when they hammered Moenchengladbach 4-0 to go eighth.

Hanover got their second consecutive win under new coach Mirko Slomka with a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt to go 16th.

Third-placed Bayer Leverkusen need to beat Hamburg on Sunday to get their title hopes back on track after last weekend’s shock loss to Nuremberg.

On Friday, former German international striker Kevin Kuranyi grabbed a 55th-minute winner to temporarily put Schalke top, sealing a 2-1 win against Stuttgart.

It was Schalke’s third successive win and their eighth at home this season while Kuranyi’s timely strike was his 14th of the campaign.