Hamburg's Bundesliga future was left dangling by a thread after Bayern Munich bounced back from their midweek Champions League disappointment with a convincing 4-1 win at the HSV Arena.
#INSERT type:image caption:Mario Goetze showed his worth to Bayern. END#
Mario Gotze put Bayern in front before Thomas Muller added a second for Pep Guardiola's men. Gotze raised that to three before Hakan Calhanoglu netted a consolation for Mirko Slomka's men, who conceded once again when Claudio Pizarro wrapped up Bayern's win before Jerome Boateng earned a late red card.
Hamburg go into the last weekend of the season needing to do better than both Nurnberg and Eintracht Braunschweig in order to earn a play-off for survival with the side which finishes third in the 2. Bundesliga.
Robert Lewandowski waved farewell to Borussia Dortmund fans in his last home match for the club in a 3-2 win over Hoffenheim.
The Polish striker will move to rivals Bayern Munich in the summer, but Lewandowski was given a standing ovation before kick-off and presented with some commemorative gifts.
Despite going behind to Roberto Firmino's early goal, Dortmund prevailed thanks to goals from Kevin Grosskreutz, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lukasz Piszczek, while Hoffenheim scored a second through Niklas Sule.
Schalke sealed their place in next season's Champions League at the very same venue where they accomplished the feat last term, following a 2-0 win over Freiburg.
Kaan Ayhan and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar earned Jens Keller's men the win which means they cannot finish any lower than fourth, although they will have to play their final game of the season without Felipe Santana, who picked up a red card.
Freiburg were also happy enough come the final whistle of their final home game of the season, having secured their top-flight status a week ago.
Bayer Leverkusen remain on course for a place in the Champions League next season after beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 at the Commerzbank Arena.
Goals from Gonzalo Castro and Emre Can earned Sascha Lewandowski's side a crucial three points, considering their rivals for fourth Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach also won on the penultimate weekend of the Bundesliga season.
Borussia Monchengladbach ensured they remain in the hunt for fourth spot for the last weekend of the season after a 3-1 win over Mainz.
Goals from Martin Stranzl, Max Kruse and Christoph Kramer helped strengthen the Foals' push for the last Champions League place. That spot continues to be occupied by Bayer Leverkusen, who have a one-point lead over Wolfsburg and three between them and Gladbach.
Mainz cut the deficit temporarily in the 64th minute through Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting. The Carnival Club themselves are still in pole position to secure European football next season.
Ivica Olic kept Wolfsburg's hopes of playing Champions League football next season alive as he struck late to earn his side a 2-1 win at Stuttgart.
Kevin De Bruyne had given the Wolves the lead but Christian Gentner levelled for Huub Stevens' men, who needed a point to be certain of preserving their place in the Bundesliga next season.
With Hamburg and Nurnberg both losing, that point was not ultimately necessary, and Olic's late goal did not do too much harm to Stuttgart, although it could prove to be priceless for Dieter Hecking's men as they now trail fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen by just a point going into the final weekend of the season.
Nurnberg's survival hangs on a final day showdown at Schalke following a 2-0 home defeat to Hannover.
Szabolcs Huszti and Manuel Schmiedebach scored either side of the half-time break to condemn the home side to a sixth straight league loss.
Hannover, safe from the threat of relegation, dampened the mood in the stadium after six minutes with Artjoms Rudnevs unselfishly assisting Hungarian attacker Huszti for his eighth goal of the season. Hannover doubled their advantage six minutes into the second half, as Schmiedebach charged through the heart of Nurnberg's defence to tuck the ball past Raphael Schafer.
Aaron Hunt scored a second-half brace in a 2-0 victory over Hertha Berlin to bring an emotional end to a 13-year association with Werder Bremen.
The 27-year-old midfielder confirmed he will leave for pastures new at the end of the season, but he left Bremen fans with one final memory in their final home match, netting just after the break and in the final moments of this Bundesliga clash.
In a game of little significance to the table, Bremen tested Thomas Kraft for the first time after 23 minutes, but Zlatko Junuzovic's 20-yard piledriver was punched clear by the Hertha goalkeeper.
Raul Bobadilla scored deep into stoppage time to keep Augsburg's hopes alive of qualifying for Europe next season with a 1-0 win, while leaving Eintracht Braunschweig at the foot of the table.
The Argentinian came off the bench 10 minutes from the end of a tense encounter to score the decisive goal with practically the last kick of the game.
With Hamburg and Nurnberg also losing on the penultimate weekend of the season, bottom-placed Braunschweig do still have the chance of avoiding automatic relegation on the final day, although to do that they will need to reverse a four-game losing streak at Hoffenheim.