Surprising Results
February 18, 2007
In Sunday's other match, VfL Bochum moved out of the relegation zone thanks to a 3-1 win at Arminia Bielefeld.
Nuremberg went into the game against Cottbus looking to take full advantage of Bayern's shock 1-0 loss Saturday at Alemannia Aachen but were made to fight for all three points against a resolute Cottbus side.´
In Saturday's Bundesliga action, two second-half goals from Diego Klimowicz denied Schalke 04 the chance of extending their lead at the top of the German Bundesliga to seven points as VfL Wolfsburg came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw.
Kevin Kuranyi looked to have secured a seventh win in succession for the Bundesliga leaders with a first-half brace of his own before Klimowicz's heroics.
Defending champions Bayern Munich lost further ground, going down 1-0 away to newly promoted Alemannia Aachen while Werder Bremen's title chances also took a severe blow after a third defeat in succession, this time a 2-0 home loss to SV Hamburg.
Schalke now have 49 points, five clear of Stuttgart, who demolished Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 in the Friday night game. Bremen stay third on 42 points with Bayern fourth on 37 points.
Perennial runners-up ready to win?
Kuranyi put Schalke in front after just 10 minutes, rising completely unchallenged to head home a Peter Lovenkrands free kick.
The 24-year-old striker made it 2-0 just before the half-hour mark, volleying home his 11th league goal of the season from eight meters after the Wolfsburg defense failed to clear.
Wolfsburg pulled one back through Klimowicz on 56 minutes and the 32-year-old Spanish striker popped up to head home an equalizer two minutes from time to salvage an unlikely point.
Despite the draw, Mirko Slomka's side still remain in the driving seat to secure a first Bundesliga crown. Schalke last won a German league title in 1958 but have always come up short since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963.
Hamburg leave basement to Gladbach
Meanwhile Hamburg, under new coach Huub Stevens, built on last week's victory over Borussia Dortmund with a 2-0 defeat of Bremen to move off the bottom of the table.
David Jarolim was upended in the area in the first half by Daniel Jensen and Rafael van der Vaart converted the subsequent spot kick.
Miroslav Klose came closest to scoring for Bremen with a second-half header before van der Vaart made the points safe with a breakaway goal four minutes from time.
Thomas Schaaf's Bremen side have now lost in successive matches to Schalke, Stuttgart and Hamburg to languish nine points adrift of Schalke with just 12 matches remaining.
Bye bye Bayern
Werder's problems, however, pail in comparison with Bayern's, last season's double winners now sit 12 points down from Schalke and have next to no hope of retaining their title.
Bayern may have decided to dispense with the services of Felix Magath in favor of former coach Ottmar Hitzfeld but their miserable run continued with a 1-0 defeat away to newly promoted Aachen.
Alexander Klitzpera poked home the only goal of the game after just 10 minutes and it took a spectacular save by Oliver Kahn from future teammate Jan Schlaudraff on 40 minutes to prevent Bayern going into the break two goals down.
Hitzfeld's side failed to produce a chance of note in the second half to leave Bayern rooted in fourth place with still just one win so far in 2007.
In Saturday's other matches, Mainz 05 continued their stunning streak by coming from behind to beat Hertha Berlin 2-1 and continue their unbeaten streak to five games. Bayer Leverkusen crashed 1-0 at home to Hanover and Borussia Mönchengladbach dropped to the bottom of the table after going down 1-0 at Dortmund.