German teams strengthen Champs League bids

Wolfsburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach have further boosted their Champions League credentials with Bundesliga home wins over Freiburg and Hanover.

Kevin de Bruyne inspired Wolfsburg to a comfortable 3-0 win over lowly Freiburg by scoring one and creating two while Gladbach relied on a double from Patrick Herrmann to defeat Hanover 2-0.

Second-placed Wolfsburg are 11 points behind table-topping Bayern Munich but lead fourth-place Bayer Leverkusen, in the Champions League play-off spot, by the same margin.

Gladbach skipped Leverkusen to claim a two-point advantage in third, the final automatic qualifying spot to the Champions League, with their victory but trail Wolfsburg by eight.

"We started very well with a high tempo and made many chances," Wolfsburg sport director Klaus Allofs told Sky television.

De Bruyne opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a low shot after capitalising on an error from Marc Torrejon though Wolfsburg could not find the goals their dominance deserved in a strong first half, while the visitors offered next to nothing in response.

The game was decided 12 minutes from time as keeper Roman Buerki clattered into De Bruyne the referee pointed to the spot, with Ricardo Rodriguez sending the keeper the wrong way.

Moments later Maximilian Arnold had a simple task to slide in De Bruyne's accurate cross to complete the rout.

Freiburg remain 17th in the table and in the relegation zone having taken only one point from their last four league games.

Gladbach were also in control in front of their own fans against a Hanover side who have now gone nine without a win and are four points above the relegation play-off place in 13th.

Several half-chances were spurned before Herrmann opened the scoring in the 43rd minute by converting Thorgan Hazard's low cross unmarked at the back post.

Herrmann completed his double in the 75th minute with another tap in from Max Kruse's cross.