Borussia Dortmund edged ever closer to a successful defence of their Bundesliga crown with a 2-1 win at the home of their bitter local rivals Schalke.
Schalke 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
• European gallery
The win takes Dortmund eight points clear at the top of La Liga with just three games remaining, as title challengers Bayern struggling to a 0-0 draw at home to Mainz.
Jefferson Farfan put the home side in front in the ninth minute, but Lukasz Piszczek levelled for Dortmund just eight minutes later. Sebastian Kehl sealed Dortmund's win in the 63rd minute.
Later, Bayern Munich's Bundesliga title bid suffered a blow as a 0-0 draw at home to Mainz left their challenge in tatters.
Playing with a weakened side ahead of their midweek Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, Bayern looked out of sorts after their midweek defeat to Dortmund and they failed to crack a defensive-minded Mainz.
The Bavarians will now turn their attentions to Europe, while Mainz will be happy to come away with a point which takes them just one win away from guaranteed safety.
Bayer Leverkusen and Hertha Berlin shared six goals in a dramatic 3-3 draw at the BayArena today, although the point hardly helps either side in their respective battles for Europe and to avoid relegation.
Berlin managed to turn around a two-goal deficit in a thrilling second half which also saw a missed penalty and a red card for Berlin's Levan Kobiashvili.
Andre Schurrle put Leverkusen in front just before the break and they seemed to be cruising to victory when Stefan Kiessling added a second in the 51st minute.
Pierre Lasogga reduced the arrears after an hour before Thomas Kraft saved Simon Rolfes' penalty after Kobiashvili saw red for a foul inside the area.
Two goals from Tunay Torun turned the game on its head with Berlin leading 3-2 until Kiessling snatched a point for Leverkusen in the 84th minute.
Hamburg moved five points cl ear of the bottom three and seven away from automatic relegation from the Bundesliga thanks to a 1-0 win over Hannover.
A 12th minute goal from Heung Min-son was enough to earn Thorsten Fink's side all three points and restore belief after a 4-0 defeat to Hoffenheim in midweek had left them in the thick of a relegation battle.
Hannover, who rallied late on, were unable to find an equaliser and remain only two points ahead of Werder Bremen in the hunt for a place in the Europa League next season.
A late goal from Sebastian Langkamp earned Augsburg a precious 2-1 away win in Wolfsburg to take them four points clear of the relegation zone with three games of the season remaining.
Langkamp struck in the 88th minute after Patrick Helmes had equalised Torsten Oehrl's early opener for the Bavarians.
The win gives the Bavarians renewed hope of securing a second successive season in the top flight while practically ending Wolfsburg's hopes of playing in Europe next season.
Nurnberg sent Kaiserslautern a step closer to relegation and gave themselves a comfortable cushion over the Bundesliga's bottom three with a 2-0 victory at the Betzenberg.
Daniel Didavi and Tomas Pekhart scored for the Bavarians, who opened up a nine-point advantage over 16th-placed Cologne with three games of the season remaining, although Cologne still have one game in hand.
Nurnberg cannot be automatically relegated, though, as they are 10 points clear of Hertha Berlin while the Red Devils' relegation can be sealed tomorrow if Cologne pick up at least a point against Borussia Monchengladbach.
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