A dominant performance from France forward Moussa Diaby kept Bayer Leverkusen's faint hopes of European football alive with a 4-1 home win over Hertha Berlin on Sunday.
Diaby scored one, set up another, and proved dangerous throughout. He was ably assisted by teenager Florian Wirtz as Leverkusen won just their second match from their past six.
Leverkusen opened the scoring on 13 minutes through Iran striker Sardar Azmoun, who was set up by a cutback from Jeremie Frimpong.
Frimpong scored an almost identical goal 10 minutes later, this time set up by Diaby.
Diaby put the result beyond doubt midway through the second half with a goal of his own, created by the 19-year-old Wirtz.
Hertha's Dodi Lukebakio scored a penalty in the 67th minute to give the visitors a glimmer of hope, but Leverkusen substitute Amine Adli struck with just over 15 minutes remaining to seal the win.
Leverkusen, who are through to the last 16 of the Europa League after beating Monaco on penalties, are now seven points off the European placings with 11 games in the season remaining.
The loss left Hertha, who had won two of their past three coming into Sunday's match, just one point clear of the four teams level at the foot of the table on 19 points.
In Sunday's late game, Eintracht Frankfurt look to close the gap on the Champions League places to one point when they travel to Wolfsburg.
