Haris Seferovic scored to keep Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win at Nuremberg in the second leg of their end-of-season playoff on Monday.
Mexican Marco Fabián entered the game on the 11 minute, in substitution of middle fielder Marc Stendera.
Seferovic's 66th-minute strike after good work from Mijat Gacinovic gave Frankfurt a 2-1 win aggregate victory and left Nuremberg, which placed third in the second division, without top-flight football for at least another season. Gacinovic had scored for Frankfurt in the first leg 1-1 draw on Thursday.
Frankfurt, which finished 16th in the 18-team Bundesliga, dominated possession and chances, with 17 efforts on goal compared to the home side's seven.
"We completely deserved to win. When you look at the two games, only we could have won," said retiring Frankfurt chairman Heribert Bruchhagen after his last game. "It was great that I could experience it to the end."
Nuremberg hadn't had a shot on goal in the first leg, but secured the away score through Marco Russ' own goal before Gacinovic equalized. Russ, who was diagnosed with a tumor the day before, is to have an operation on Tuesday and didn't travel to Nuremberg.
"He said that he's doing well," Frankfurt coach Niko Kovac said of his captain.
Nuremberg had only lost one of its previous 21 games at home.
Frankfurt easily dominated possession in the first half with the biggest chances falling to Seferovic and Szabolcs Huszti.
The second half continued in the same way, with Nuremberg sitting back and defending. Kovac brought on club top-scorer Alexander Meier in the 58th minute but it was Seferovic that finally broke the deadlock eight minutes later, converting from close range after Gacinovic eluded Nuremberg captain Miso Brecko to set him up.
It was the Swiss striker's first goal since November and it meant Frankfurt avoided its fifth relegation.
With information from Notimex.