Soccer-Dortmund snatch last Champions League spot with win over Kiel in season finale
Soccer Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund v Holstein Kiel - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - May 17, 2025 Borussia Dortmund's Felix Nmecha celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
DORTMUND, Germany (Reuters) - Borussia Dortmund cruised past relegated Holstein Kiel 3-0 on Saturday to finish fourth and snatch the last Champions League spot for next season, in the best comeback of the last seven matchdays in Bundesliga history.
Niko Kovac's Dortmund won six of their last seven matches to climb from 10th to fourth in the standings and finish on 57 points, two ahead of Freiburg who lost to third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.
No other Bundesliga team have managed such a comeback in the last seven matchdays.
Bayern Munich had secured the title two weeks ago with Bayer Leverkusen finishing runners-up.
Dortmund, needing three goals to be guaranteed a top four finish irrespective of results in the other games, got off to a dream start when Serhou Guirassy converted a third-minute penalty for the lead.
Kiel were then left with 10 players when Carl Johansson was sent off with a straight red card but the hosts could not make the extra man count until the break.
They did, however, score two minutes after the restart with Marcel Sabitzer slotting in from the edge of the box to make it 2-0 and Felix Nmecha added another in the 72nd minute to seal their European spot.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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