Schalke Win Topples Bayern

Schalke 04's Brazilian midfielder, Lincoln, sent a fantastic 69th minute free-kick past Oliver Kahn to down Bayern, who now find themselves three points adrift of Schalke with just nine games left to play.

"I think that was the most important goal of my career," said Lincoln, whose team have no European distractions.

Although Schalke undoubtedly have the tougher run-in -- with Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart among the teams they still have to play -- the three-point cushion has given them the psychological edge.

"It is great to win but the victory is worthless if we do not
beat Mainz next week," warned Schalke manager Ralf Rangnick. "We have to be top after 34 games -- that is all that counts."

The last time Schalke sat top of the 18-strong Bundesliga was in May 2001, and that date serves as a warning in itself. On the final day of the 2000/01 campaign Schalke fans and players celebrated what they thought was a glorious title win only for the incorrect scoreboard to reveal that Bayern had scored against Hamburg, making the Bavarians champions -- again.

Since 2001 the rivalry between Bayern and Schalke has escalated to that of derby rivals. With Bayern still involved in the energy-sapping Champions League Schalke's exit from the UEFA Cup could be a blessing in disguise.

Stuttgart once more in top three

Stuttgart moved back into the top three with a victory over Borussia Dortmund Sunday that came despite the sending-off of Fernando Meira at the start of the second half.

The visitors were leading 1-0 via a Silvio Meissner header when Meira received his marching orders for bringing down Ebi Smolarek in the box.

Jan Koller missed the ensuing penalty and Stuttgart clinched the points when Meissner had better luck from the spot, making it 2-0 after Dortmund's Christian Woerns had been sent off for a foul on Aliaksandr Hleb.

Hertha Berlin, Leverkusen draw at 3-3

In its Saturday match against Hertha Berlin, Bayer Leverkusen looked to be cruising with a 2-0 lead with 20 minutes gone. However, a terrible collapse left the home side relieved with a 3-3 draw at the final whistle.

It was a make-or-break game for Klaus Auhenthaler's team. Just three days after they saw their last chance of a trophy disappear in the form of a crushing 3-1 home defeat in the champions League against Liverpool, Leverkusen welcomed fifth placed Berlin with vital points the only incentive.

With both teams challenging for European competition places as their only reward come the season's end, this match at the BayArena had special significance.

Robson Ponte took the ball from the halfway line to score the first in the fifth minute and six minutes later Hertha's Dick van Burik was sent off for bringing down Andriy Voronin in the area. Leverkusen keeper Hans-Joerg Butt stepped up to score the penalty and a rout looked on the cards.

Marcelinho scored twice to bring Hertha back level, though, and Andreas Neuendorf finished off a swift break to give the visitors an unlikely lead in the 62nd minute.

Leverkusen threw everything forward and eventually grabbed an equalizer when Voronin turned in a Bernd Schneider cross six minutes from time.

Want to know more about the rest of the weekend's games? Click here.

Hamburg in Champions League race

Also on Saturday, Hamburg got back into the race for Champions League places with victory over Arminia Bielefeld in a thrilling game. Hamburg were ahead within two minutes when Benjamin Lauth took a pass from Bjoern Schlicke and supplied a neat left-foot finish.

Bielefeld hit back with a Massimilian Porcello free kick and Fatmir Vata's close-range finish before the game swung again before halftime, Hamburg retaking the lead with two goals in five minutes Sergej Barbarez and Khalid Boulahrouz.

Hamburg made it 4-2 when Mehdi Mahdavikia shot through the legs of a defender on the right side of the area after a pass from Lauth. Delron Buckley's header came too late to save Bielefeld.

Nuremburg downs Freiburg

Bottom club Freiburg were the better side for most of the
game but were sunk by two late goals from the Bundesliga's leading scorer Marek Mintal.

Samuel Koejoe muscled his way on to an Alexander Iashvili
through ball to put Freiburg ahead in the seventh minute.
Nuremberg equalized with a deflected shot from Lars Mueller in the 23rd minute but Freiburg were back ahead just before the hour through Zlatan Bajramovic.

Freiburg looked set to hold out for a fourth league win only
for Mintal to pounce for the equaliser in the 85th minute and
then chip in for the winner in injury time.

Rostock win keeps hopes alive

Rostock recorded their second successive win, this time against Bochum, to climb another place and keep their faint survival hopes alive.

Italy's Antonio di Salvo scored twice from close range to
put the home side 2-0 up and Rade Prica made it 3-0 in the 52nd minute, advancing 15 metres and smashing in from well outside the box. Edu grabbed a consolation for Bochum with 20 minutes to go when he bundled in a Tommy Bechmann free kick at the far post.

Kaiserslautern still in UEFA fight

Kaiserslautern stayed on the fringes of the fight for UEFA
Cup places with victory over Borussia Moenchenglabach in a drab game. Halil Altintop got the only goal in first-half injury-time, controlling the ball in the area and squeezing between two defenders to poke in.

Blow to Werder Bremen

Hopes for Werder, beaten 7-2 by Olympique Lyon this week, of returning to the Champions League next season took a blow when they failed to see off a limited Mainz side.

Nelson Valdez had a shocker in front of goal, fluffing three
clear chances, and Fabian Ernst was also guilty of a bad miss when he chipped on to the top of the crossbar in the 35th minute when he might easily have side-footed the ball in.

Finally on Saturday, Wolfsburg struck early through Argentine Carlos Menseguez, following a neat pass from Martin Petrov, and held on for a win over Hanover that means they still have an outside chance of qualifying for Europe.