Bayern in third place

It was the first win for Schalke 04 in Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena since the stadium opened in 2005. Schalke's 1-0 win over Bayern keeps their hopes of an international spot alive for next season, but makes the road tougher for defending Bundesliga champions Bayern.

Bayern was caught off-guard with Schalke's only goal, which came off a corner kick in the 21st minute. Halil Altintop, standing completely alone, headed the ball in off the corner from Christian Pander.

“(After that goal), which seemed to fall out of the sky, we just lost our rhythm” said Bayern's trainer Juergen Klinsmann.

Bayern drops to third place in the table and gives up second to Hertha Berlin, who beat Hoffenheim Saturday 1-0. Adding insult to injury, Bayern's star midfielder Franck Ribery was sent off after being shown his second yellow card in the 76th minute.

Hamburg's hopes of a German title also suffered a setback Saturday after a 2-0 loss to Dortmund. Hamburg and Bayern are tied with Stuttgart on points at 54, with Hamburg trailing in fifth place on goals.

Stuttgart continue to climb

Mario Gomez has second place all to himself on the Bundesliga goal scorers list after his 19th season goal in the 48th minute helped VfB Stuttgart top Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0. Stuttgart's other goal came in the 33rd minute from Cacau.

The win was the fifth in a row for Stuttgart, who are now in a three-way battle for the Champions League with Hamburg and Bayern. Stuttgart is in fourth place on goals but face the toughest team in the league next Sunday.

Although Stuttgart will have the home field advantage against VfL Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg are on a ten-game winning streak and are heavy favorites Sunday against Energie Cottbus.

German Cup Finalists

Bayer Leverkusen suffered a bit of an embarrassment following their extra-time victory in the semi-finals of the German Cup Tuesday.

Last-place Karlsruhe beat Bayer 1-0 in Leverkusen thanks to a long bomb from Sebastian Langkamp. In the 72nd minute, Langkamp wound up from about 40 meters and simply surprised national goalie Rene Adler with a goal.

Karlsruhe trainer Edmund Becker said he was “happy that the team's efforts have finally paid off, even if the winning goal was a lucky shot.”

Werder Bremen, the other team in the German Cup Final, was down 2-0 at the half against Bochum but came back to win 3-2 thanks to goals from Hugo Almeida in the 54th, Naldo in the 70th and Diego in the 79th minute.

In the final match on Saturday, Hanover beat FC Cologne 2-1.

Wolfsburg chase record

Looking ahead to Sunday's matchups, table leaders VfL Wolfsburg go after their 11th straight win in a row, which would break a 22-year-old Bundesliga record.

In the battle of the basement, relegation-threatened Borussia Moenchengladbach face Arminia Bielefeld, who hope to maintain their slim lead over Gladbach and hold their spot in the Bundesliga next season.