Bayern Keeps Dreaming

Bayern took the lead after just three minutes when a well-timed pass in from the left from Bastian Schweinsteiger to the feet of striker Roy Maakay gave the Dutchman just enough time to hit his shot past Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer.

It was Maakay's 100th goal for the club, and one of his most valuable, until Bosnian midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic made the result safe with lethal finishing to smash defender Lucio's cross past Neuer on 78 minutes.

The win keeps Bayern in fourth, but leaves Schalke just two points ahead of second-placed Werder Bremen, who missed the chance to go level with a 0-0 draw at Energie Cottbus.

Stuttgart powers on

At home to Alemannia Aachen, third-placed Stuttgart VfB took an early lead when Swiss striker Marco Streller powered his header just past the despairing finger tips of diving goalkeeper Stephan Straub after 29 minutes.

Aachen got back on level terms after the break when Zambian defender Moses Sichone put his header just out of reach of Stuttgart's goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand to make it 1-1 on 59 minutes.

But Stuttgart made sure of the win as Benjamin Lauth chipped the keeper on 75 minutes before Brazilian striker Cacau scored an almost identical goal in the 84th minute to seal the 3-1 win.

The win leaves them just two points behind Bremen and four points away from Schalke.

Closer to safety

Eintracht Frankfurt defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos gave his side an early 1-0 lead over bottom-side Borussia Mönchengladbach after 11 minutes, but battling Borussia picked up a priceless point thanks to Federico Insua.

The draw keeps them bottom, but they are now only four points from safety.

Czech midfielder Tomas Galasek volleyed Nuremberg into an early lead at home to Hertha Berlin in the 15th minute, and the home side extended their lead when midfielder Marco Engelhardt drove home his shot eight meters out on the hour.

Berlin gave themselves a life-line when Argentinian striker Christian Gimenez scored on 69 minutes, but still went down 2-1.

Two quick goals fired Bayer Leverkusen into an early 2-0 lead away at Mainz 05.

Good day for Schneider

After German international midfielder Bernd Schneider made a huge dent in the Mainz defense, his inch-perfect pass to Sergej Barbarez allowed the Bosnian striker to headed his shot home on 42 minutes. And the 25-year-old scored again three minutes later on the stroke of half-time when he followed a shot up from Simon Rolfes -- fresh from making his debut for Germany in midweek -- to slide the ball home.

Schneider smashed his free-kick past Mainz keeper Dino Wache on 52 minutes before Mainz grabbed a consolation goal through Egyptian striker Mohamed Zidan with 15 minutes to go to make it 3-1.

Arminia Bielfeld lifted themselves out of the relegation zone on Friday night with a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund who took their place in the bottom three.