Lewandowski haunts BVB, Wolfsburg win
Robert Lewandowski hurt his former club by scoring Bayern Munich's winner against Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker. The Poland striker headed home in the first half after Roman Weidenfeller saved from Thomas Muller to give the Bavarian club a 1-0 win.
Marco Reus carried Dortmund's main goal threat, but when Manuel Neuer saved his late free-kick their last chance was gone. The result kept Bayern ten points clear of Wolfsburg, who beat bottom club Stuttgart 3-1.
Two goals from Ricardo Rodriguez and Andre Schurrle's first goal for the Wolves allowed Dieter Hecking's men to establish a comfortable advantage over fifth-placed Schalke, all but securing their UEFA Champions League place. Martin Harnik's header was merely a consolation for Huub Stevens' men, whose survival hopes suffered another setback.
Indeed all the top four pulled away from Schalke, who play Augsburg on Sunday. Borussia Monchengladbach won 4-1 against Hoffenheim, whose own European hopes were dealt a blow.
Sven Schipplock gave the hosts the lead somewhat against the run of play, but Max Kruse levelled from the penalty spot before Patrick Herrmann gave Gladbach the lead. Raffael added a third before Herrmann struck again.
And Bayer Levekusen won 4-0 at home to Hamburg, under new coach Peter Knabel. Two goals each from Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kiessling earned Roger Schmidt's men a comfortable win.
At the other end of the table, Freiburg pulled three points clear of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win over Cologne. Mike Frantz scored the only goal of the game to secure Freiburg's second win in a row and take them above Hannover in the standings after they were held 2-2 by Eintracht Frankfurt.
Hannover did at least come from two goals down to relieve some of the pressure on their coach Tayfun Korkut. Alexander Madlung and Stefan Aigner gave the Eagles a two-goal cushion which looked like it would be good enough for all three points, but Marcelo brought Hannover back into the game before Didier Ya Konan levelled late on.
Werder Bremen and Mainz drew 0-0.