BERLIN: Borussia Moenchengladbach cemented third place in the Bundesliga on Sunday with a 2-0 win at home to Paderborn, who slipped into the relegation places.
Goals either side of half-time by USA international Fabian Johnson and Patrick Herrmann gave Lucien Favre's 'Gladbach the three points.
Winger Herrmann was unlucky not to finish with two goals after his shot hit the post just before the final whistle having come on for the last 25 minutes.
Gladbach are now four points clear of the chasing pack in third while Paderborn, with just one win in their last ten matches, drop to third from bottom.
"We wanted the three points today, good that we finally managed it after a European match," said goal-scorer Johnson after Gladbach lost 3-2 at Sevilla on Thursday in the Europa League.
Second-placed Wolfsburg are at resurgent Werder Bremen in Sunday's top clash with both teams unbeaten in 2015.
Bremen are on a fairytale run of five wins and a draw which has taken them from bottom of the league in December to the verge of a European place.
On Saturday, Gabon's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang played Borussia Dortmund's 'superhero' by scoring their opening goal in a 3-0 home win over Schalke 04 in the Ruhr Valley derby.
Dortmund climbed to tenth in the table after picking up their fourth consecutive league win after starting February bottom of the table.
Aubameyang -- who had compared winning the derby to 'an orgasm' in midweek -- pounced on a mistake in the visitors' defence to roll the ball home on 78 minutes.
It was his fifth goal in as many league games and the 25-year-old celebrated by donning a 'Batman' hat, playing up to his 'caped crusader' nickname, which earned him a booking.
His team-mate Marco Reus wore a 'Robin' mask to play his side-kick as it emerged Aubameyang's translator Massimo Mariotti had hidden the costumes behind the Schalke goal.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Reus added Dortmund's goals in a deserved win as Borussia created 31 shots on goals compared to Schalke's meagre three.
The defeat drops Schalke, who were missing several stars with injury, to fifth while neighbours Dortmund are now just eight points adrift of a Champions League place for next season.
Bayer Leverkusen built on their shock Champions League win over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday with a 1-0 win at home to strugglers Freiburg to go fourth.
Veteran midfielder Simon Rolfes, who will retire at the end of the season, grabbed a first-half winner to give Leverkusen their first league win in four games.
Augsburg dropped to sixth after their 1-0 defeat at Hertha Berlin as ex-Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou scored a late winner at the Olympic Stadium to claim his sixth goal of the season.
Stuttgart stay bottom after their 1-1 draw at Hanover 96 while Hoffenheim are just two points short of the European places for next season after their 2-0 win at home to Mainz.
Ten-man Hamburg drop back to just above the relegation places after their 2-1 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt.
On Friday, Bayern Munich celebrated their 115th birthday with a 4-1 win over Cologne to go 11 points clear at Munich's Allianz Arena.
Arjen Robben netted his 17th goal in 19 league matches this season with a crisp header with 20 minutes left to remain the league's top scorer.
Captain Bastian Schweinsteiger gave hosts Bayern an early lead and Franck Ribery added a second inside 10 minutes.
Cologne fought back when Nigeria international Anthony Ujah scored just before half-time but Bayern roared back as Robben then Poland striker Robert Lewandowski extended their lead.
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