Bundesliga wrap: Leverkusen rattle title-chasing Bayern, Schalke slip up

Bayern Munich’s hopes of winning the Bundesliga took a significant blow on Saturday after a 2-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern now trail league leaders Borussia Dortmund by four points, with the reigning champions in action against Mainz later on Saturday, giving them a chance to go seven points clear on top of the table.

More than 30,000 fans crammed into the BayArena for the visit of Bayern and Leverkusen won their third match in a row to continue their good form.

Stefan Kiessling scored the all-important opening goal with just 11 minutes to play.

The forward stabbed home from close range after a terrific assist from Eren Derdiyok and the result was sealed on the stroke of full-time.

Gonzalo Castro broke free down the right and hit a well-weighted pass across the face of goal where Karim Bellarabi side-footed past Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to give Leverkusen a well-deserved victory.

Schalke 04, who sit fourth, were upset 2-1 at lowly Freiburg.

Sebastian Freis and Daniel Caligiuri scored for the winners and despite Teemu Pukki’s late strike for Schalke, it was not enough for them to get a point.

Zdravko Kuzmanovic scored a pair of penalties in Stuttgart’s thumping 4-0 win at Hamburg while Jan Callsen-Bracker’s 89th-minute equaliser saw Augsburg draw 2-2 at Hannover.

Australian Nikita Rukavytsya scored Hertha Berlin’s first goal in six matches as they beat Werder Bremen 1-0 while Kaiserslautern and Wolfsburg played out a goalless draw in the day’s other match.

More to follow