German football powerhouse Stuttgart have successfully kept their hopes of competing for the title of Bundesliga alive as they notched up a 2-1 victory at Schalke 04 on Wednesday.
Relegation-endangered Moenchengladbach sealed second last-ditch win in four days after they edged out drop-zone fellow Cottbus 1-0 on the day.
In the absence of top scorer Mario Gomez due to a last-minute adductor problem, strikers Cacau and Ciprian Marica bagged the goals in the 12th and 57th minute that gave Stuttgart a timely first win in eleven years in Gelsenkirchen.
Meanwhile, Schalke's third successive defeat rules out any slight remaining hope they had of qualifying for the UEFA Europa League next season.
Thanks to the away victory, Stuttgart, which crowned the Bundesliga title in the 2006-2007 season, collected 61 points, just two points shy of Bundesliga leaders Wolfsburg with two games remaining.
Stuttgart are thus still in the ring to compete for the Bundesliga champions together with Bayern Munich and Berlin Hertha, which have pocketed 63 and 62 points respectively.
Moenchengladbach, a long-time occupant of the relegation zone, on Wednesday took a giant step towards survival with their second last-ditch victory inside four days.
A header from central defender Dante in the first minute of added time earned Borussia three crucial points at fellow relegation candidates Energie Cottbus.
The 1-0 win takes Gladbach up to 14th at the standings on 30 points. Earlier on Sunday, they beat Schalke 04 by the same score with a 90th-minute goal from Roberto Colautti. Cottbus, second from bottom on 27 points, now have to rely on other teams slipping up if they are to escape the bottom three.
Also on Wednesday, Hamburg celebrated a 3-1 win over Bochum, the club's first Bundesliga win in its last four matches.
In other two games, Bielefeld lost to "village club" Hoffenheim 2-0 and Bremen swept Fankfurt 5-0.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2009)
