Cologne relegated, Dortmund sets Bundesliga record

BERLIN (AP) — Cologne was relegated on the final day of the Bundesliga season on Saturday following a 4-1 home defeat to Bayern Munich, while Hertha Berlin clinched the playoff place with a 3-1 win over 10-man Hoffenheim.

Cologne fans reacted to the club's fifth relegation by setting off flares and smoke bombs, engulfing one stand in black smoke as riot police were deployed on the pitch.

Hertha started the day behind Cologne and needed a win and a favor from Bayern to avoid the drop.

Hertha now faces a two-leg playoff against the third-place side from the second tier to decide which team plays in the Bundesliga next season. The first game against Duesseldorf, Paderborn or St. Pauli is on Thursday, with the second leg on May 15.

Borussia Dortmund, already assured of its second straight title, celebrated with a 4-0 win over Freiburg to stretch its record unbeaten run to 28 games within a season and set a new Bundesliga record of 81 points.

The champion also equaled Bayern's record of 25 wins in a season.

"Today was out of the ordinary," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said. "We got 81 points, which probably won't be achieved by any team so soon."

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored two goals in Schalke's 3-2 win at Werder Bremen taking his season tally to 29 — a Bundesliga record for a non-German player.

"For a striker it's always nice to win it," Huntelaar said after being presented with the trophy for the league's topscorer.

Huntelaar finished the season with 48 goals from 48 games across all competitions.

Stuttgart overcame a 2-0 deficit to Wolfsburg with three goals in six minutes to win 3-2, Bayer Leverkusen won 4-1 at Nuremberg, Borussia Moenchengladbach enjoyed a 3-0 win at Mainz, and Augsburg ended its first Bundesliga season with a 1-0 win over Hamburger SV.

Jos Luhukay, who led Augsburg to its first promotion last season, announced his resignation after the game. Augsburg finished 14th in the 18-team division with 38 points.

Cologne is retiring Lukas Podolski's No. 10 shirt as long as the striker remains active, but the Germany international was unable to prevent defeat in his last game before a move to Arsenal.

Bayern fielded its likely lineup for the Champions League final, with Jupp Heynckes leaving out Holger Badstuber, Luiz Gustavo and David Alaba — all suspended against Chelsea.

Three Cologne defenders marked Mario Gomez, but Thomas Mueller was completely free when Arjen Robben found him to score in the 34th minute.

Cologne captain Geromel scored an own-goal in the 52nd and Robben curled a shot beyond former Bayern goalkeeper Michael Rensing two minutes later.

Podolski set up Milivoje Novakovic for a glimmer of hope in the 63rd, but Mueller rounded off the scoring with a classy backheel in the 85th.

Aenis Ben-Hatira had given Berlin the lead in the 14th with a scrappy free kick, before Hoffenheim winger Ryan Babel was sent off for two yellow cards in succession late in the half.

Ben-Hatira looked to have finally settled the match when he scored again in the 78th, but Marvin Compper ensured a nervous finish when he scored with five minutes remaining.

Hoffenheim pushed everyone forward, including the goalkeeper, for the equalizer that would have relegated Hertha, before Raffael finally sealed the win when he ran the length of the pitch and shot into an empty net.

Unbeaten in 28 games, Dortmund will start next season in pursuit of Hamburg's 36-match unbeaten record from January 1982 to January 1983. Both Jakub Blaszczykowski and Robert Lewandowski scored twice in the first half as Dortmund ended Freiburg's 10-game unbeaten run.

In Stuttgart, Wolfsburg striker Patrick Helmes made his case to be included in Germany's Euro 2012 squad with his 10th goal in as many games, before Marco Russ made it 2-0.

Stuttgart staged a remarkable comeback started by Cacau in the 73rd, with Maza and Ibrahima Traore also scoring.

Marco Reus marked his last game for Moenchengladbach by scoring either side of the interval in Mainz. The Dortmund-bound winger clinched his 17th and 18th goals of the season and then set up Igor de Camargo to make it 3-0.