Borussia Dortmund beat Mainz 2-1 and moved closer to defending its Bundesliga title following Bayern Munich’s loss on Saturday.
Shinji Kagawa scored in the 77th minute, three minutes after former Dortmund striker Mohamed Zidan equalised for Mainz with his fifth goal in consecutive games since his winter transfer from the defending champion.
Jakub Blaszczykowski put the home side in front in the 26th, with an unstoppable shot to the top left corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Following its eighth straight win in all competitions, Dortmund was seven points clear of Bayern with 10 rounds left after Sunday’s games.
“I haven’t thought about whether the seven points mean anything. I could only blather rubbish about it now,” Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said.
Bayer Leverkusen beat Bayern 2-0 with two late goals from Stefan Kiessling and Karim Bellarabi.
“We’re very disappointed,” Bayern sporting director Christian Nerlinger said.
Dortmund applied relentless pressure after Blaszczykowski scored but failed to convert numerous chances with Kevin Grosskreutz, Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski all going close.
Zidan declined to celebrate after scoring when Adam Szalai laid the ball back for him to fire beyond Roman Weidenfeller.
“I have respect for Borussia. I spent 3{ years here and it was a wonderful time for me,” the Egypt striker said.
Dortmund’s endeavour paid off when Lukasz Piszczek crossed for Kagawa to crash in a shot off the underside of the crossbar and stretch the side’s unbeaten league run to 18 games.
“Mo really got the goal? I didn’t realise that or I would have congratulated him,” Klopp said. “Then it’s perfect. He scored his goal, we won.”
Elsewhere, Hertha Berlin ended its 12-game winless run with a 1-0 victory over Werder Bremen to climb out of the relegation zone.
Schalke lost 2-1 at Freiburg, Stuttgart romped to a 4-0 win at Hamburger SV, Kaiserslautern and Wolfsburg drew 0-0 and relegation-threatened Augsburg drew 2-2 at Hannover.
Despite leaving Franck Ribery on the bench after his heavy knock in France’s 2-1 midweek win in Germany, Bayern dominated the first half.
“We played an outstanding game with great use of space and many gilt-edged goal chances that we didn’t use. But that’s the crux,” Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes said.
Leverkusen ‘keeper Bernd Leno, who turns 20 on Sunday, produced a fingertip save to deny Arjen Robben in the 13th, and Bayern’s frustration threatened to boil over after half an hour when Rafinha had to step in to separate Jerome Boateng and Mueller during a heated argument.
Manuel Neuer was helpless when Eren Derdiyok kept Gonzalo Castro’s cross in play and flicked the ball back for Kiessling to score from close range.
“Bayern also had chances, but we used ours,” Kiessling said.
The visitors were caught on the break when Simon Rolfes set Castro free on the right. He crossed to the middle where Bellarabi timed his run perfectly to score his first ever Leverkusen goal.
Leverkusen next hopes to overturn a 3-1 deficit to Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday.
“My team showed a great attitude,” Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt said.
Fourth-placed Schalke, playing without top scorer Klaas Jan Huntelaar, failed to close the gap on Bayern as Freiburg climbed off the bottom.
Sebastian Freis scored his first goal for the home side in the 18th, and Daniel Caligiuri tucked away a penalty to make it 2-0 in the 66th.
Teemu Pukki pulled one back in the 72nd, seconds after going on as a substitute, when midfielder Jermaine Jones played the Finn through.
Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos earned a second yellow card with three minutes remaining.
Kaiserslautern replaces Freiburg at the bottom after its 14th consecutive game without a win.
Stuttgart deservedly went ahead in Hamburg in the 23rd when Vedad Ibisevic easily eluded Slobodan Rajkovic before shooting inside the left post.
It got worse for Rajkovic eight minutes later when the Serbian defender gave away a penalty against Shinji Okazaki. Zdravko Kuzmanovic made no mistake from the spot.
Rajkovic was unfortunate to concede another penalty after the break, when Martin Harnik made the most of his outstretched arm. Kuzmanovic duly made it 3-0 in the 47th.
Hamburg’s Jose Paulo Guerrero was sent off for a terrible challenge on Sven Ulreich in the 54th. Replays showed the Peru striker made no attempt to play the ball when he caught the Stuttgart goalkeeper studs up from behind.
Harnik rounded out the scoring in the last minute.
Nikita Rukavytsya gave Hertha coach Otto Rehhagel a winning debut at home against the 73-year-old’s former side, when his mis-hit volley bounced over the helpless Tim Wiese for Hertha’s first goal in six games across all competitions.