The door was open, and at home against Stuttgart, Schalke made the most of the opportunity with a convincing 3-1 win.

The hosts were on the scoreboard almost immediately - with Joel Matip heading home a poorly defending corner after only two minutes. But he was keeping his feet on the ground.

"I'm glad about my goal but I don't think we're a real threat to Bayern yet," Matip told reporters. "We'll be taking it one game at a time."

The Royal Blues could have put the game away a mere five seconds later, but a goal by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was wrongly disallowed for offside.

Stuttgart mustered little offense and may want to practice defending set pieces, after Kyriakos Papadopolous headed home another corner nine minutes after the restart. And after a nifty string of short passes, Julian Draxler put the game beyond any doubt in minute 78.

"We were completely asleep on set pieces," Stuttgart coach Bruno Labbadia complained to journalists. "We made it really easy for Schalke after the first goal."

Stuttgart's Shinji Okazaki pulled one back for the visitors late on, but Stuttgart will have to put their international ambitions on hold for the time being. Schalke, meanwhile, are tied with table-toppers Bayern on 37 points.

Special occasion for Nuremberg

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Nuremberg celebrated their one-thousandth game in the Bundesliga with a 2-nil win over Hertha Berlin. Much criticized striker Alexander Esswein put the club on the board against the run of play just before the half-time break.

Dominic Maroh then scored six minutes from time to spoil new Berlin coach Michael Skibbe's debut.

Against Cologne, Wolfsburg fielded five new players after a typical winter shopping spree by coach and sports director Felix Magath. But it was 20-year-old Sebastian Polter, newly promoted from the Wolves' youth ranks, who got the lone goal as Wolfsburg prevailed 1-0.

In a dog-fight between the bottom two sides, Freiburg and Augsburg, it was a new player and a youngster who determined the outcome. Three minutes from the end, a free kick by newly acquired Danish defender Michael Lumb found the head of 18-year-old Matthias Ginter to hand Freiburg a 1-0 win.

Freiburg climb above Augsburg, who drop to the very bottom of the standings.

And in Hoffenheim, a dreary goalless draw between the hosts and Hanover had even the TV commentator reaching for the remote control.

Saturday’s late match - Kaiserslautern versus Bremen - was a far more exciting affair with both teams hitting the woodwork and having a case for penalties.

Olkay Sahan just missed snatching three points for underdogs Lautern in the dying seconds, but the result was a goalless draw.

Munich misstep

On Friday, a blunder by Bayern Munich keeper Manuel Neuer helped Mönchengladbach pull off a 3-1 upset over Bayern Munich. Marco Reus was the grateful recipient of a botched Neuer pass in the first half, finding the net from around 30 meters out.

The Foals' emerging young striker Patrick Herrmann added a brace, as Bayern were frustrated by Gladbach's defensive discipline.

Bastian Schweinsteiger got a consolation goal for the league leaders, but the match was definitely not the way Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes envisioned starting 2012.

Sunday sees reigning champs Dortmund seeking a win against Hamburg that would draw them level on points with Bayern. And Bayer Leverkusen try to add credibility to their bid for international competition when they take on Mainz.

Author: Jefferson Chase
Editor: Kyle James