Bundesliga round-up

Dortmund and Gladbach win again in title race

Borussia Dortmund maintained their position at the top of the Bundesliga with victory at Hertha Berlin, but Borussia Monchengladbach are hot on their heels after Bayern Munich dropped to third.

Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen both secured wins in their quest to qualify for Europe, while Nurnberg claimed an important three points at the bottom end of the table.

Kevin Grosskreutz's goal midway through the second half was enough to hand leaders Dortmund a 1-0 win away to troubled Hertha.

Borussia Monchengladbach's goal led something of a charmed life en route to a 2-1 success away to struggling Kaiserslautern.

Patrick Herrmann provided Gladbach with a ninth minute lead, but the hosts came close to an equaliser three minutes later when Pierre de Wit hit the bar.

Just two minutes later, Gladbach increased their lead through Juan Arango before Kaiserslautern were denied by the woodwork again before half-time when Sandro Wagner struck the post.

Leon Jessen pulled a goal back for Kaiserslautern on 63 minutes, but Gladbach held on for an important three points.

Bayern Munich now trail Dortmund by four points after being held to a 0-0 draw away by bottom club Freiburg.

Tomas Pekhart scored an 85th minute winner as Nurnberg beat Cologne 2-1 at home to move above their opponents in the table.

Alexander Esswein put Nurnberg ahead on 28 minutes before Milivoje Novakovic levelled for Cologneon 66 minutes.

Pekhart grabbed the winner with five minutes to go and was then denied a second goal by the crossbar in the final minute.

Bayer Leverkusen delivered a three-goal blitz in the space of 10 second-half minutes to run out 4-1 winners over second-bottom Augsburg.

Stefan Kiessling gave Leverkusen a 25th minute lead before Augsburg levelled five minutes after half-time through Koo Ja-Cheoul.

However, Gonzalo Castro restored the hosts' lead on the hour mark and further goals from Kiessling and Andre Schurrle made certain of the points.

Werder Bremen remain in fifth position in the standings following a 3-1 win away to mid-table Hamburg.

Marko Marin netted after just nine minutes for Bremen and the lead was doubled on the stroke of half-time by Tom Trybull.

Mladen Petric's goal 14 minutes from time gave Hamburg hope, but that was snuffed out by Bremen substitute Marko Arnautovic with four minutes left.

Bayern keeping tabs on Guidetti

Bayern Munich are monitoring the availability of Manchester City's young striker John Guidetti after his impressive form on loan at Feyenoord this season.

The German giants sent a delegation to watch the Swede score his third hat-trick in five games against Vitesse Arnhem on Sunday, taking his goal tally for the season to 17 in 15 appearances.

The 19-year-old nevertheless faces a tough task to establish himself at the Etihad Stadium given the presence of Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko and possibly even the return of Carlos Tevez to manager Roberto Mancini's attacking ranks.

And Bayern's youth coach and scout Bjorn Andersson, quoted in De Telegraaf, said: "We are looking at him and a striker at Montpellier, (Olivier) Giroud, very closely."

Giroud has scored 21 goals in 27 appearances this season for Montpellier who sit second in Ligue 1, just a point behind big-spending leaders Paris St Germain.

Dortmund chose Reus over Lamela

Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc has revealed the club passed on the chance to sign Argentinean youngster Erik Lamela last season.

Instead, Dortmund chose to wait for Borussia Monchengladbach forward Marco Reus to become available, a move which was finalised in January and will be completed at the end of the season.

Lamela, one of the brightest prospects to emerge from Argentina in recent years, was linked to many European clubs last season while he was still playing for River Plate.

La Liga outfit Atletico Madrid were said to be extremely keen on him, but in the end it was Roma who secured his services in a €12million deal.

However, Zorc has since revealed BVB were very much in the running for Lamela as well, but ultimately opted against signing him as they were unsure how well he would adapt to the Bundesliga.

"There were too many uncertainties [with Lamela]," Zorc told Kicker. "With Marco Reus, we knew what we would get."

Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp echoed Zorc's opinion that Reus represented a safer investment.

"In Marco, we had a character we could 100% evaluate," Klopp said. "That is very important.

"With Lamela, we could not do that."

Lamela has established himself as a key player for Roma despite still being only 19, already making 17 appearances in Serie A this season, while Reus has starred for Gladbach this term, scoring 13 goals in 19 league games.

Nuremberg confirm Kiyotake interest

Nuremberg chairman Martin Bader has confirmed his club are looking to reignite their interest in Cerezo Osaka star Hiroshi Kiyotake.

The Bundesliga outfit reportedly failed in an earlier bid to sign 22-year-old Kiyotake, who scored four goals in nine appearances for Cerezo in last year's AFC Champions League.

Nonethless, Nuremberg are said to be undeterred by their rejected bid for the attacking midfielder, and are ready to test Cerezo's resolve once again.

"We will cooperate and have talks with both Kiyotake and his club," Bader said, according to Kicker.

Nuremberg will reportedly have to shell out €1million for the Japan international, a fee they are said to be willing to pay considering Bundesliga rivals Stuttgart have also been linked with the player.

German football has seen an influx of Japanese players in recent years, with Shinji Kagawa, originally from Cerezo, currently starring for defending league champions Borussia Dortmund.

Hajime Hosogai has also established himself as a key member for Augsburg, where he is currently on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, although 19-year-old Takashi Usami has struggled to establish himself at Bayern Munich and is said to be seriously considering his future at the Allianz Arena.

Augsburg 0-0 Nuremberg

Augsburg and Nuemnberg played out a goalless draw in a Bavarian derby today for a result which hardly helps either side in their respective battles against relegation.

The fear of losing appeared to outweigh the ambition of winning as both sides settled for a point in a cagey encounter, despite a late flurry of chances.

Augsburg created the better opportunities, but were unable to warm up their fans with an all-important goal as the point leaves them inside the bottom two.

Nuremberg manage to pull a point further clear of Hertha Berlin, but the relegation zone lurks just four points below them.

Tobias Werner's powerful drive in the 10th minute was the closest either team came to opening the scoring in the first half.

Hajime Hosogai had a shot blocked by Timmy Simons, who was again decisive in preventing Torsten Oehrl from shooting just before half time.

A poor pass from Hosogai wasted another good chance for Augsburg midway through the second half before the game finally came to life in the last 10 minutes.

Timothy Chandler forced Simon Jentzsch into making a fine save in the 82nd minute before a quick break from Augsburg three minutes later culminated in Koo Ja Cheol's dipping volley being tipped onto the crossbar by Raphael Schafer.

The game opened up with defensive organisation thrown out of the window in favour of all-out attack.

The fans did their bit in trying to lift Augsburg, who penned Nuremberg back inside their own half for the last five minutes of the game.

They were almost caught out on the counter in the last minute when Chandler raced through, but Matthias Ostzolek made a brave sliding tackle to put the ball behind for a corner with the last major intervention of the game.

Hamburg leapfrog Cologne up table

Paolo Guerrero grabbed a late winner as Hamburg pulled further clear of relegation trouble with a 1-0 victory at Cologne.

Guerrero finished neatly, clipping the ball over home goalkeeper Michael Rensing with two minutes to go after latching on to Mladen Petric's pass.

Tenth-placed Hamburg remain upwardly mobile under new coach Thorsten Fink, moving above Cologne who are six points above the bottom three.

Augsburg and Nuremberg played out a goalless draw in a Bavarian derby - a result which hardly helps either side in their respective battles against the drop.

The fear of losing appeared to outweigh the ambition of winning as both sides settled for a point in a cagey encounter, despite a late flurry of chances.

Augsburg created the better opportunities, but were unable to warm up their fans with an all-important goal as the point leaves them inside the bottom two.

Nuremberg managed to pull a point further clear of Hertha Berlin, but the relegation zone lurks just four points below them.

On Saturday, Borussia Dortmund remained two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga thanks to a 1-0 win at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa struck on the stroke of half-time to preserve Dortmund's two-point cushion over Bayern Munich, who beat struggling Kaiserslautern 2-0.

Mario Gomez and Thomas Muller were on target for the Bavarians as they kept up the pressure on their rivals.

Gomez opened the scoring after only six minutes and Muller got the second goal on the half-hour mark.

Borussia Monchengladbach moved above Schalke into third place, one point further back, on the back of an impressive 3-0 home win over the Royal Blues.

Marco Reus, who will join Dortmund in the summer, put Gladbach in front in the second minute and Mike Hanke doubled their lead on their quarter-hour mark.

Juan Arango added a third in the 32nd minute to all but kill off Schalke's hopes of getting anything from the game.

Defeat left the visitors two points behind their opponents.

A late goal from Marko Arnautovic denied Markus Babbel a dream debut as coach of Hoffenheim as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen.

Jannik Vestergaard gave Hoffenheim the lead in the fourth minute, but they were denied all three points in the very last minute when Arnautovic struck.

Michael Skibbe's nightmare return to Germany continued as his Hertha Berlin side were thrashed 5-0 atStuttgart to fall to the brink of the bottom three.

Skibbe has lost all five games since taking over as coach this winter from Babbel and goals from Vedad Ibisevic, Martin Harnik and Shinji Okazaki in the space of just eight first-half minutes put the home team on course for victory.

To make matters worse for Hertha, they lost Andreas Ottl to a red card after only half an hour. Harnik added a fourth before the interval and completed a hat-trick in the 58th minute to seal the comprehensive victory.

Elsewhere, Artur Sobiech rescued a point for Hannover from their trip to Mainz as he struck in the 89th minute to cancel out Mohamed Zidan's opener in a 1-1 draw.

Sunday's Bundesliga Results

Cologne 0-1 Hamburg

Augsburg 0-0 Nuremberg

Saturday's BundesligaResults

Mainz 1-1 Hannover

Dortmund 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen

Werder Bremen 1-1 Hoffenheim

Stuttgart 5-0 Hertha Berlin

Bayern Munich 2-0 Kaiserslautern 

Borussia M'gladbach 3 Schalke 0

Friday's Bundesliga Results

Wolfsburg 3-2 Freiburg

Klopp: Leverkusen win was deserved

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp insists his players were deserving winners after they battled to a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.

Dortmund ensured they stayed two points ahead of Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga, with Shinji Kagawa's strike on the stroke of halftime proving the difference.

Speaking after the game, Klopp admitted his side were never going to beat Leverkusen by a large margin of goals, and was just satisfied with the three points.

"It was clear from the very beginning that we will not score a lot of goals against them [Leverkusen]," Klopp told Liga Total.

"We just wanted to win. We've done that, and indeed our triumph is well deserved."

Midfielder Sven Bender echoed his coach's sentiments, admitting their opponents had been more than a match for the defending Bundesliga champions.

"Leverkusen have a very strong team, and possess enormous amounts of quality," Bender added. "It was a game of equals.

"Nevertheless, I think we are worthy winners, because we had the better chances. However, Bayer certainly gave us a run for our money."

Leverkusen themselves are 6th in the Bundesliga, and play Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.

Cologne 0-1 Hamburg

Hamburg left it late to punish Cologne's negative tactics with a 1-0 win at the Mungersdorfer Stadion.

Jose Paolo Guerrero scored the only goal of the game in the 88th minute as Thorsten Fink's side moved up to their highest position all season, leapfrogging Cologne and Hoffenheim to move into 10th.

Cologne spent much of the game on the back foot and could therefore have no excuses about finally having their defence breached late on.

They led Hamburg by a point coming into this game, but this was not reflected in their timid approach to the game.

Cologne were extremely defensive, breaking only once with Milivoje Novakovic caught cold in their attack when he failed to control the ball, which he received for almost the first time all game after half an hour, and Jaroslav Drobny swept up.

Things had to change in the second half if the home team were to aspire to anything more than a goalless draw, and they did.

Martin Lanig thought he had put the Goats in front from a well-worked free-kick in the 62nd minute, but the linesman's flag was rightly raised.

The disallowed goal certainly lifted the crowd and it lifted the home team too, with Odhise Roshi racing down the right and sending in a dangerous cross a minute later.

As a result, the game opened up and Hamburg started to find ways through.

Mladen Petric exchanged passed with Guerrero to break into the penalty area in the 75th minute, but his volley went wide of the far post.

Three minutes later, the Croatian was adjudged to be offside when his shot was pushed onto the post by an increasingly busy Michael Rensing.

A further five minutes had elapsed when Rensing had to make a good reflex save to deny Dennis Aogo, who latched onto Guerrero's downward header.

The Cologne goalkeeper was let down by his defence in the 88th minute, though, as Guerrero beat the offside trap to reach Petric's ball through and lift the ball past Rensing from a tight angle, with Pedro Geromel unable to make a clearance on the goal-line.

Heynckes: Bayern are on the rise

Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes was understandably pleased after his players capped off a good week with a 2-0 win over Kaiserslautern on Saturday.

The victory kept them just two points behind Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund and, coupled with Wednesday's DFB-Pokal win over Stuttgart, capped off an excellent week for Bayern, which also saw them seal a deal for Swiss starlet Xherdan Shaqiri.

Speaking after the match, Heynckes insisted Saturday's result gave a clear indication that Bayern were finally hitting their stride, after some inconsistent form earlier in the season.

"It [Saturday's win] confirms we're on the up," Heynckes said on Bayern's official website.

"It was a totally deserved victory, and we played very good football at times."

Bayern playmaker Toni Kroos, who had an excellent game on Saturday, revealed his side had been looking to put Kaiserslautern on the back foot early on, something he feels they managed to achieve.

"It was obvious to everyone that we wanted it [the result] wrapped up as quickly as possible," Kroos added.

"Especially in the first half, we moved the ball well, we made very few mistakes, and we scored two goals.

"There weren't exactly fireworks in the second half, but Lautern never looked like getting back into it.

"We're getting better and better all the time."

Bayern travel to Freiburg this Saturday, before they take on Basel next week.

Wolfsburg 3-2 Freiburg

Wolfsburg moved up to their highest position of the season thanks to a 3-2 win over Freiburg at the VW-Arena on Friday.

Petr Jiracek was on target twice for the Wolves with Marcel Schafer also on target.

However, Freiburg came from behind twice with goals from Johannes Flum and Daniel Caligiuri before Jiracek's second goal sealed the win which moves Wolfsburg up to eighth and leaves Freiburg rooted to the foot of the table.

Wolfsburg crowned a spell of good early pressure when Jiracek put them in front in the fifth minute.

Freiburg struggled to deal with a corner from the right and Jiracek picked up the ball on the left and fired in off the far post to open his account for the Wolves.

The home side's lead lasted little over five minutes before Freiburg levelled.

It was route one stuff as a long punt forwards from the goalkeeper found its way to Caligiuri, whose shot was blocked, but the ball ricocheted out to Flum and he sent it in low past Diego Benaglio.

Freiburg's celebrations were short-lived, though, as the Wolves went in front again in the 14th minute.

A cross from the right was diverted towards the far post by Giovanni Sio's backheel and Schafer slid in to score, although there were questions as to whether Sio was offside.

Freiburg did not complain and instead turned their anger into another reaction with Caligiuri levelling before the break.

The Wolfsburg defence this time stood like statues as a cross from the right found its way all the way through to Caligiuri, who provided a finish similar to that of Jiracek with the ball clipping the inside of the post on its way in.

Schafer nearly restored Wolfsburg'g lead immediately, but the ball was cleared off the goalline before Jiracek made an identical clearance at the other end in a very open game.

The Wolves went in front again on the hour mark, and this time they held on to their advantage.

Jiracek was left in too much room 20 yards from goal and his shot took a deflection off the foot of Fallou Diagne to loop in and earn the home side all three points.

Cologne vs Hamburg Preview

Jong Tae-se, at the centre of a row between Cologne coach Stale Solbakken and the director of sport Volker Finke, could make his Bundesliga debut on Sunday against Hamburg.

Jong's arrival on transfer deadline day was met with surprise by Solbakken, who was not consulted on the transfer until the last minute.

He criticised Finke for brining in the player behind his back, but now appears to feel the North Korean striker could well fit into his side with Lukas Podolski still sidelined with injury.

"Jong has trained very well over the past few weeks and he is showing good finishing," said Solbakken.

"He has been able to prove his strength in the air again and so, for me, he is an option against Hamburg."

He is therefore a candidate to partner Milivoje Novakovic as Solbakken looks to minimise the impact of the loss of his side's top goalscorer.

"We can score goals without Lukas, as we showed last weekend against Kaiserslautern," added the Norwegian coach.

Last weekend's victory took Cologne above Sunday's opponents, but Solbakken knows the table is still very tight from ninth down to 18th with just seven points separating the teams in the bottom half of the table.

"The league table does not reflect the level Hamburg really are on," he said.

"They have improved a great deal since the first half of the season."

Hamburg's draw with Bayern Munich last weekend was evidence of how much they have improved under Thorsten Fink.

"We have played two good games since the winter break and we now want to build on those," Fink said.

"I would like to see the same performance, the same attitude and the same concentration as we showed against Bayern Munich.

"Then we will also win in Cologne."

Fink will name same team for Sunday's clash, saying: "There is no reason to change."

Bayern Munich 2-0 Kaiserslautern

Mario Gomez and Thomas Muller scored as Bayern Munich kept up the pressure at the top of the Bundesliga with victory over Kaiserslautern at the Allianz Arena.

The goals went in during the first half and from that point Bayern never looked in any danger of not winning.

They missed further chances in the second half to improve their goal difference, but at least picked up the points to keep them within two points of Dortmund.

Bayern opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a cross from Ribery from the left to Gomez, who was left alone to turn and head the ball inside the near post.

The hosts went close to a second goal in the 23rd minute when David Alaba sent a direct free-kick over the wall but just inches wide of the post, with Kevin Trapp just watching and praying that the ball would go wide.

Muller left Trapp without a prayer in the 30th minute as he beat the Kaiserslautern goalkeeper to the ball on the edge of the six-yard box to head in Bayern's second from Toni Kroos' free-kick.

As comfortable as Bayern seemed, Thanos Petsos did warn them not to take things too easily when he sent a volley just inches wide of the post just before the interval after the Red Devils won their first corner of the match.

Gomez and substitute Arjen Robben both missed one-on-one chances against Trapp in the second half before Holger Badstuber's volley was saved by the Kaiserslautern goalkeeper.

The last chance came from Robben's direct free-kick which he curled over the wall but straight into Trapp's arms.

Werder Bremen 1-1 Hoffenheim

A late goal from Marko Arnautovic denied Markus Babbel a dream debut as coach of Hoffenheim as they were held to a draw at Werder Bremen.

Jannik Vestergaard gave Hoffenheim the lead in the fourth minute, but they were denied all three points in the very last minute when Arnautovic struck.

The draw left Hoffenheim still searching for their first win in over two months while it was a precious point for Bremen, who took advantage of Bayer Leverkusen's defeat in Dortmund to move two points clear of their rivals in fifth place.

Babbel was sitting on the Hoffenheim bench for the first time, and he was brought to his feet after just four minutes as Vestergaard opened his account for the club with a header from Sebastian Rudy's corner.

Bremen responded well with Hoffenheim goalkeeper Tom Starke forced into making a fine save to push Mehmet Ekici's free-kick behind for a corner.

Markus Rosenberg wasted Bremen's next chance to level in the 21st minute when he lacked composure when faced with only Starke to beat.

It was not enough in the eyes of the home fans, who made their feelings clear as their side went in at the break a goal down.

The home team made a lively start to the second half with Marko Marin, on for Ekici at the break, showing his dribbling strength to create a rare opening.

Niklas Fullkrug, fresh from signing professional terms this week, was thrown on as an additional attacker and he had a good chance to score in the 79th minute, but he failed to beat Starke in a one-on-one situation.

Bremen increased the pressure in the last 10 minutes, but it looked like Hoffenheim were going to hold out, until Arnautovic struck.

Rosenberg headed a long punt forwards into the path of the Austrian, who made no mistake in beating Starke with a low shot into the bottom corner.

Stuttgart 5-0 Hertha Berlin

Martin Harnik scored a hat-trick as Hertha Berlin coach Michael Skibbe's nightmare return to Germany continued at Stuttgart on Saturday.

Skibbe has lost all five games since taking over as coach this winter from Markus Babbel and this fourth straight Bundesliga reverse will raise serious doubts about his future.

There should be no doubts about the future of Bruno Labbadia as Stuttgart coach, meanwhile, as goals from Vedad Ibisevic, Harnik and Shinji Okazaki in the space of just eight first-half minutes put the home team on course for victory.

To make matters worse for Hertha, they lost Andreas Ottl to a red card before Harnik added a fourth before the interval and completed his treble to seal a comprehensive victory for Stuttgart.

Ibisevic opened his account for Stuttgart in the 24th minute when he reached the ball on the stretch with his right foot just ahead of Thomas Kraft to meet Tamas Hajnal's free-kick, which had been headed on by Georg Niedermeier.

Harnik made it two four minutes later with Ibisevic this time the provider with a pass into the path of the Austrian striker, who made no mistake.

Ottl let his frustration get the better of him two minutes later with a dangerous foul from behind on Hajnal earning him a straight red card.

He had just left the field of play when Okazaki piled the misery on Berlin with Stuttgart's third in the 32nd minute.

He headed in Khalid Boulahrouz's cross as the Berlin defence was caught napping.

Harnik then compounded matters with an excellent volley past Kraft in the 41st minute, giving the home side a considerable, and deserved, half-time advantage.

The Austria forward completed his hat-trick in the 58th minute was symptomatic as he helped in Christian Gentner's cross.

Okazaki and Ibisevic missed chances to give Stuttgart an even bigger margin of victory with Kraft denying the Bosnian once again late on.

Dortmund 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen

A goal from Shinji Kagawa was enough for Borussia Dortmund to defend their place at the top of the Bundesliga for another week.

The Japanese midfielder struck on the stroke of half-time to preserve Dortmund's two-point cushion over Bayern Munich, who beat Kaiserslautern 2-0.

Leverkusen, who started the game in sixth place, missed the chance to move above Werder Bremen into fifth with a disappointing performance at the Westfalenstadion as Dortmund extended their unbeaten streak to 14 games.

Dortmund started as they meant to go on, attacking Leverkusen from the very beginning.

However, Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno was called into action only twice in the first 45 minutes as he made easy saves from Kevin Grosskreutz.

But just as it looked like Dortmund were not going to make the breakthrough, Kagawa stepped up to take matters into his own hands just before the referee could blow for half-time.

He took ball into the area and cut back onto his left foot. Although he seemed to lose his balance, he still managed to shoot into the far corner with Leno getting his foot to the ball, but not preventing it from going in.

Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt chose not to make any changes to his side at the start of the second half, leaving Michael Ballack on the bench.

Ballack spent the whole of the second half as a spectator too as, for the second game running, he was not called upon.

The former Germany captain may have been able to bring a much-needed different dimension to the Leverkusen side in hindsight as Dutt's eleven lacked creativity.

Dortmund, on the other hand, lacked incision to make the most of their dominance and, as a result, they were made to sweat on what was ultimately an unchallenged victory.

The only disappointment for Klopp's side was their failure to add to their one goal as they missed an opportunity to improve their goal difference, which could prove vital come the end of the season.

Dortmund stay top; Gladbach go third

Borussia Dortmund remained two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga thanks to a 1-0 win at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa struck on the stroke of half-time to preserve Dortmund's two-point cushion over Bayern Munich, who beat struggling Kaiserslautern 2-0.

Mario Gomez and Thomas Muller were on target for the Bavarians as they kept up the pressure on their rivals.

Gomez opened the scoring after only six minutes and Muller got the second goal on the half-hour mark.

Borussia Monchengladbach moved above Schalke into third place, one point further back, on the back of an impressive 3-0 home win over the Royal Blues.

Marco Reus, who will join Dortmund in the summer, put Gladbach in front in the second minute and Mike Hanke doubled their lead on their quarter-hour mark.

Juan Arango added a third in the 32nd minute to all but kill off Schalke's hopes of getting anything from the game.

Defeat left the visitors two points behind their opponents.

A late goal from Marko Arnautovic denied Markus Babbel a dream debut as coach of Hoffenheimas they were held to a 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen.

Jannik Vestergaard gave Hoffenheim the lead in the fourth minute, but they were denied all three points in the very last minute when Arnautovic struck.

Michael Skibbe's nightmare return to Germany continued as his Hertha Berlin side were thrashed 5-0 at Stuttgart to fall to the brink of the bottom three.

Skibbe has lost all five games since taking over as coach this winter from Babbel and goals from Vedad Ibisevic, Martin Harnik and Shinji Okazaki in the space of just eight first-half minutes put the home team on course for victory.

To make matters worse for Hertha, they lost Andreas Ottl to a red card after only half an hour. Harnik added a fourth before the interval and completed a hat-trick in the 58th minute to seal the comprehensive victory.

Elsewhere, Artur Sobiech rescued a point for Hannover from their trip to Mainz as he struck in the 89th minute to cancel out Mohamed Zidan's opener in a 1-1 draw.

Saturday's Bundesliga Results

Mainz 1-1 Hannover

Dortmund 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen

Werder Bremen 1-1 Hoffenheim

Stuttgart 5-0 Hertha Berlin

Bayern Munich 2-0 Kaiserslautern 

Borussia M'gladbach 3 Schalke 0

Friday's Bundesliga Results

Wolfsburg 3-2 Freiburg

Mainz 1-1 Hannover

Artur Sobiech rescued a point for Hannover from their trip to Mainz on Saturday as he struck late on to cancel out Mohamed Zidan's opener in a 1-1 draw.

Zidan scored for the second game running following his return to Mainz, but it was not enough to earn all three points for Thomas Tuchel's side.

Sobiech's 89th-minute equaliser maintains Hannover's unbeaten start to 2012 and takes them level on points with sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen in the hunt for a place in the Europa League next season.

They are in Europa League action on Thursday too at home to Club Brugge in the last 32 of this season's competition.

That game may have been on their minds early on as they appeared distracted as Zidan opened the scoring in the seventh minute.

Zidan, who recently returned to the club from Borussia Dortmund, found the back of the net with an accurate strike from just outside the penalty area into the bottom corner of Ron Robert Zieler's goal.

Hannover found their focus soon afterwards and laid siege to the Mainz goal with Mame Diouf the first to test Christian Wetklo, followed by strikes from Mohammed Abdellaoue.

Wetklo's best save was reserved for a Jan Schlaudraff shot, which he pushed behind for a corner in the 36th minute.

Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting's goal was correctly ruled out for offside in the 42nd minute before Steven Cherundolo made a goalline clearance to prevent Niko Bungert from doubling the home side's lead early in the second half.

Hannover continued to attack with Mainz posing a threat on the counter attack.

Zidan was denied by Zieler in the 75th minute and Choupo-Moting tried to be too fancy as he backheeled the ball into Zieler's arms nine minutes later.

Hannover's persistence was rewarded in the 89th minute when Karim Haggui's mis-hit shot turned into a perfect assist for Sobiech, who brought the Reds level.

Borussia M'gladbach 3-0 Schalke

Borussia Monchengladbach emphasised their own Champions League credentials with a 3-0 win over Schalke which takes them above their rivals into third place in the table.

All three goals came in the first half for Lucien Favre's side, who trail league leaders Borussia Dortmund by three points and move two ahead of the Royal Blues.

Gladbach's magic triangle of Marco Reus, Mike Hanke and Juan Arango accounted for the goals as the Borussia Park stadium looks increasingly likely to stage European football next season given the Foals' 12-point advantage over seventh-placed Hannover.

Schalke, meanwhile, slip five points adrift of local rivals Dortmund.

Reus gave the home side a dream start in the second minute when he took the ball past Benedikt Howedes and fired his shot into the far corner of the goal, out of the reach of Lars Unnerstall.

It could have been 2-0 just moments later when Mike Hanke only just failed to capitalise on a moment of confusion between Unnerstall and Kyriakos Papadopoulos.

Hanke added the second in the 15th minute, finishing an excellent team move which saw him exchange passes with both Filip Daems and Arango before providing a fine finish past Unnerstall into the far right of the goal.

Arango made it three in the 32nd minute with a well-worked free-kick from almost 25 yards.

It was an indirect free-kick but Arango touched the ball to Reus, who stopped it in his path, allowing him to lift it over the wall and in off the underside of the crossbar.

Hanke almost made it three two minutes later when he nudged the ball past Unnerstall, but missed from a tight angle.

Gladbach had done enough in the first 45 minutes to win the game and the second half was a case of playing down the clock without running any risks.

Dortmund draw Greuther Furth

Second-division side Greuther Furth have been given a home draw against Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal.

The Bavarians will host the defending Bundesliga champions on March 20/21 with the winners facing either Borussia Monchengladbach or Bayern Munich in the final in May.

Furth are the only remaining lower-league side in the competition having eliminated Nurnberg and Hoffenheim in the last two rounds.

And with Bayern and Gladbach both destined for a place in the Champions League next season via their league placing, Furth may have an extra incentive to defeat Dortmund next month.

Victory could also secure the Bavarians a place in the Europa League next season, regardless of whether they were then to win the final in Berlin or not.

However, first they must see off Dortmund, who have not lost in 16 league and cup matches.

Bayern confirm Shaqiri signing

Bayern Munich have announced that they have signed Swiss midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri from Basel on a four-year deal which will begin at the end of the season.

The highly-rated 20-year-old was the subject of much transfer over the past transfer windows after impressive performances for both club and country, most recently orchestrating Manchester United's defeat and eventual elimination from the Champions League.

Turkish side Galatasaray were rumoured to have made a bid for the player but failed after the transfer fee cited was too high.

Bayern Munich have swooped in and signed the midfielder for an undisclosed fee after a medical that went through in Munich.

Bayern sporting director Christian Nerlinger said on the club's official website: "We are delighted to have signed one of Europe's most sought-after talents in Xherdan Shaqiri."

Manager Jupp Heynckes added: "I've been watching him for some time and am convinced thathe can be an important player for Bayern Munich. Our team will be strengthened with Xherdan's football intelligence. "

The Bavarian club will be able to witness Shaqiri's talents first-hand when they play Basel in the Champions League knockout phase on 22 February.