Gelsenkirchen, Germany  - Schalke 04 routed Energie Cottbus 4-0 in the German Bundesliga on Friday night to keep alive their ambitions of playing in Europe next season.

Christian Pander opened the scoring three minutes into the game with a deflected 18-metres shot high under the bar.

Halil Altintop got the second from the edge of the area in the 23rd and set up Jermaine Jones for the third on the hour before Kevin Kuranyi wrapped up matters with his 12th season goal in the 87th.

Schalke got their third straight victory since coach Fred Rutten was sacked and replaced by the caretaker trio of Mike Bueskens, Oliver Reck and Youri Mulder.

They rank sixth with 46 points, just two shy of number five which is brings with it a UEFA Cup berth and is currently occupied by VfB Stuttgart.

Harmless Cottbus, by contrast, languish in the drop zone in 17th place as their hopes of staying in the top flight suffered another blow.

The other eight games are Saturday and Sunday. Bundesliga leaders VfL Wolfsburg (54 points) host Bayer Leverkusen, second-placed Bayern Munich (51) are at struggling Arminia Bielefeld and third-ranked SV Hamburg (51) host Hanover 96. (dpa)