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Leipzig can book return to Champions League as Bundesliga top-four rivals meet / Photo: Ronny HARTMANN - AFP/File
Leipzig can book return to Champions League as Bundesliga top-four rivals meet
RB Leipzig can achieve their "season goal" of returning to the Champions League as the top-four race in the Bundesliga comes to a head this Saturday.
Ole Werner's Leipzig, in third, are at sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen, while Hoffenheim, in fifth, host fourth-placed Stuttgart.
With Bayern Munich having already clinched the Bundesliga title, Borussia Dortmund last week became the second side to ensure Champions League qualification.
Leipzig, who missed out on European competition altogether for the first time last season, can book their spot in the Champions League with victory over Leverkusen this weekend.
Coach Werner knows his team -- who are five points clear of Stuttgart and Hoffenheim and a further two ahead of Leverkusen -- are in the box seat but warned his charges against complacency.
"Our season goal is only truly achieved when we reach it," Werner told reporters on Thursday.
"We're hugely motivated, that's obvious... (But) we understand we're facing a team who won't be easy to play against."
Defeat for Leverkusen could mean trailing the Champions League spots by five points with two games remaining, leaving their hopes hanging by a thread.
Hoffenheim and Stuttgart are level on points and should one side emerge victorious from their meeting on Saturday, that team will have one foot in the top four.
Stuttgart are already through to the German Cup final, where they will try and defend their title against Bayern, but coach Sebastian Hoeness said Thursday his side wanted to "add that extra something special".
"Two years ago, we experienced how wonderful it is to play in the great stadiums of Europe, against the best teams in the world," he said. "And we want to achieve that again."
Currently, only a top-four finish will guarantee Champions League football next season. But should the Bundesliga emerge ahead of La Liga in the UEFA coefficient thanks to Bayern and Freiburg, who are in the Champions League and Europa League semi-finals, Germany will gain a fifth spot.
One to watch: Edmond Tapsoba (Bayer Leverkusen)
One of only a handful of starting players left from the club's unbeaten double-winning season in 2023-24, Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Edmond Tapsoba has become a leader during a transitional season at the BayArena.
The 27-year-old Burkina Faso international extended his contract at the club by three seasons to 2031 on Wednesday.
And the 1.94-metre tall defender has also added a string to his bow this season: goalscoring.
Tapsoba had not scored in the league since January 2023 but has notched five goals this campaign -- no Bundesliga central defender has more.
Key stats
20 - Heidenheim coach Frank Schmidt will not extend his contract when it ends in 2027, ending a run of 20 years in charge. Schmidt took the club from the fourth tier to the Bundesliga and is already the longest-serving manager in German history, but his side sit dead last and can be relegated this weekend.
91 - Bayern can equal the Bundesliga points record they set in 2012-13 if they win their last three games.
67 - Second-placed Dortmund have 67 points after 31 games, the fifth-best result at this stage of the season in their history.
Fixtures (1330 GMT unless stated)
Saturday
Eintracht Frankfurt v Hamburg, Hoffenheim v Stuttgart, Bayern Munich v Heidenheim, Werder Bremen v Augsburg, Union Berlin v Cologne, Bayer Leverkusen v RB Leipzig (1630)
Sunday
St Pauli v Mainz, Borussia Moenchengladbach v Borussia Dortmund (1530), Freiburg v Wolfsburg (1730)
(Y.Harris--TAG)
