Borussia Moenchengladbach have kept in touch with the Bundesliga’s leading trio with a handsome 3-0 win at VfB Stuttgart.
Mike Hanke in the 31st minute and Marco Reus and Igor de Camargo with two quick goals late on put Moenchengladbach back within a point of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke.
Hanke’s glancing header from a Reus free-kick gave Moenchengladbach a half-time lead, before Reus ran on to finish well from a Patrick Herrmann pass with nine minutes left and Herrmann then set up De Camargo in front of goal just over two minutes later.
It was a first win for Moenchengladbach in Stuttgart for 17 years, leaving the home side now six games without a win in 10th place.
Moenchengladbach move to 39 points, an eight-point lead over fourth-placed Werder Bremen.
In matches on Saturday, Bayern Munich beat Wolfsburg 2-0, Dortmund defeated Hoffenheim 3-1 and Schalke were 4-1 winners at Cologne.
In the day’s other game, Freiburg had a player sent off after four minutes as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Mainz to stay bottom of the Bundesliga.
Mainz scored all their goals in an opening 17-minute spell on the way to a comfortable victory which ended a series of five matches without a win.
Mainz scored in the third minute through Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and added a second three minutes later when Eugen Polanksi converted a penalty after a red card to Freiburg defender Fallou Diagne.
Choupo-Moting notched his second in the 17th minute while Pavel Krmas netted a consolation for the visitors from a corner in the 68th.
Freiburg went bottom of the table Saturday, level on 16 points with Augsburg who earned a 2-2 draw with Kaiserslautern, while Mainz lift themselves out of the last three to 12th.