Monchengladbach down Hoffenheim 3-1 in German Bundesliga

Monchengladbach keep their top-four aspirations alive after beating Hoffenheim 3-1 on home soil to close the 31st round in Bundesliga on Sunday.

Fifth-placed Monchengladbach returned to winning ways and ended Hoffenheim' s five-game unbeaten streak in front of 53,144 spectators at Borussia Park.

The "Foals" caught a bright start thanks to the own goal from Hoffenheim defender Jeremy Toljan, who cleared Oscar Wendt' s square pass into the wrong goal with seven minutes played.

The hosts remained in control of the proceedings but staged a poor chance conversion as Havard Nordveit nodded wide from promising position before Andre Hahn rattled the right post from inside the box.

Hoffenheim struggled to gain a foothold into the encounter whereas Monchengladbach rewarded themselves for their efforts just before the break as Mahmoud Dahoud tapped in a parry from custodian Oliver Baumann.

After the restart, Hoffenheim were able to reduce the arrears as Nico Elvedi' s blackout allowed Kevin Volland to tee up for Andrej Kramaric, who slotted home at the far post in the 54th minute.

However, Andre Schubert' s remained unimpressed and restored their two-goal lead as a through ball by Dahoud released Andre Hahn, whose low effort mad it 3-1 on the scoreboards in the 61st minute.

With the win, Monchengladbach stay on the fifth place, one point adrift of an UEFA Champions League play-off spot. Meanwhile, Hoffenheim slipped to the 14th position.

Elsewhere, relegation threatened Eintracht Frankfurt came from behind to edge Mainz 2-1 on home soil. Marco Russ cancelled out Mainz' opener through Daniel Brosinski in the first-half before Aenis Ben-Hatira grabbed the 2-1 victory for the "Eagles" with six minutes from time.

Both teams remain on their positions in the Bundesliga standings, Mainz stay on the sixth place while Frankfurt continue on the 17th place, which is a direct relegation spot.
Source: XINHUA