Cottbus and Aachen gain points against relegation

Aachen 2 Mainz 1

Aachen goalkeeper Stephan Straub preserved victory for his team by stopping a Mohammed Zidan penalty shot six minutes from time. The black-jerseyed Aachen stormed out of the locker room after a weak first half and grabbed the win, sending the best team of the second leg home with a 2-1 defeat in the process. Future Bayern striker Jan Schlaudraff scored two minutes after the restart. 120 seconds later, Schlaudraff's Bosnian partner up front, Vedad Ibesivic, got the gamewinner against a shocked Mainz squad. They led on a first half goal by who is certainly the man of the second leg so far, Mohammed Zidan. But his teammates in the back line were still drowsy after the interval, and Straub stopped him near the end. So, the unbeaten string of six games is over for Mainz.

Dortmund 2 Cottbus 3

Dortmund has not been strong at home this season and Cottbus used that weakness to win their first contest there in eight tries. Romanian Vlad Munteanu scored twice, one on a second-half penalty kick, and Chinese striker Jiayi Shao scored the knockout punch in the 65th minute to give three important points to the eastern Germans. Swiss international striker Alexander Frei scored his 10th and 11th goals in the match for Dortmund but it was too little for the home side.

Schalke 0 Hamburg 2

Hamburg captain Rafael van der Vaart proved he can raise his game when it matters most, breaking the deadlock in the 71st minute, with his sixth goal of the season. Croatia's Ivica Olic doubled the lead in the 81st minute. Schalke have just one point from the last three matches and watched their six point lead melt away. The Ruhr Valley clubs were missing their Brazilian playmaker Lincoln, who's was handed a handed a five-match suspension midweek.

Bremen 3 Bochum 0

On Saturday, Bremen striker Aaron Hunt was the Bundesliga's best player, scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 defeat of Bochum. It's valubale win for Bremen following three league defeats and a draw. Germany striker Miroslav Klose set up Hunt to score in the 25th minute, and the striker made sure of the points with two further strikes in the 72nd and 76th minutes.

Hertha Berlin 2 Bayern Munich 3

Two first-half goals within a minute set champions Bayern Munich up for their win at Hertha Berlin, who have now gone five league matches without a win. Hasan Salihamidzic struck from close range for the visitors on the half hour. Within a minute Podolski made it two-nil with a fine left-foot volley. Salihamdzic and Podolski teaming up well together. But Hertha hit back after the break with a 58th-minute header by Christian Gimenez, but Dutch striker Roy Makaay responded 10 minutes later with a shot from the edge of the area to make it 3-1. Hertha closed the gap again when Dick van Burik scored eight minutes from time, giving Bayern the jitterss, but they held on for the points.

Leverkusen 3 Stuttgart 1

Stuttgart went down at Leverkusen who scored two quick goals in the 20th and 22nd minutes through Andrey Voronin from close range and a Paul Freier header. The home side added a third on the hour thanks to a clever back-heel by Brazilian defender Juan from a free-kick before Stuttgart struck back when Cacau headed a consolation in the 73rd minute.

Bielefeld 3 Nuremberg 2

After five successive defeats, Arminia Bielefeld beat fifth-placed
Nuremberg. The visitors went in front through Ivica Banovic in the 16th minute, but Radim Kucera levelled just before half-time and Artur Wichniarek hit a second from the penalty spot five minutes after the break. Nuremberg's Marco Engelhardt equalized six minutes from time but Joerg Boehme struck a winner for Bielefeld side two minutes later.

Frankfurt 2 Hanover 0

Japanese striker Naohiro Takahara scored his ninth goal of the season as Eintracht Frankfurt enjoyed a 2-0 victory over Hanover. Takahara netted from close range in the 58th minute before Michael Thurk blasted a second from long range with 16 minutes remaining.

Wolfsburg 1 Moenchengladbach 0

Bottom club Borussia Moenchengladbach meanwhile sunk further into trouble with a 1-0 defeat at Wolfsburg. Cedrick Makiadi headed the winner in the 65th minute.

Standings

1 Schalke 04 49
2 Werder Bremen 46
3 VfB Stuttgart 45
4 Bayern Munich 43
5 Nuremberg 36
6 Bayer Leverkusen 35
7 Hertha Berlin 34
8 Hanover 96 33
9 VfL Wolfsburg 28
10 Borussia Dortmund 28
11 Energie Cottbus 28
12 Hamburg SV 27
13 Alemannia Aachen 27
14 Mainz 27
15 Arminia Bielefeld 26
16 Eintracht Frankfurt 26
17 VfL Bochum 24
18 Moenchengladbach 21