Story highlights
Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund top table after beating Schalke 2-0
Dortmund ahead of Borussia Monchengladbach on goal difference
Bayern Munich can return to first place with victory at Mainz on Sunday
Sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen held to a 3-3 draw at Hertha Berlin
Borussia Dortmund bounced back from Champions League disappointment to go top of the German league for the first time this season with a 2-0 win over Schalke on Saturday.
A 2-1 defeat by English side Arsenal all but ended Dortmund’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages of Europe’s top club competition, but the Bundesliga titleholders showed no signs of a hangover as Robert Lewandowski and Felipe Santana scored in either half.
The win put Dortmund first on goal difference ahead of Borussia Monchengladbach, who moved onto 29 points with a 3-0 win at Cologne on Friday.
Both clubs have a one-point advantage over previous leaders Bayern Munich, who travel to third-bottom Mainz on Sunday.
Lewandowski netted his ninth league goal this season to open the scoring for the home team, as the Poland striker broke the deadlock in the Ruhr district derby with a header from Marcel Schmelzer’s free-kick.
Brazilian defender Santana doubled the lead just after the hour when a shot by fit-again striker Lucas Barrios was blocked by 21-year-old goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall.
The defeat left Schalke in fourth place, four points behind the leaders.
Sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen lost ground on the top teams after being held 3-3 at mid-table Hertha Berlin despite a hat-trick from Eren Derdiyok.
The Switzerland striker, who also netted in the midweek Champions League win over Chelsea, brought the visitors level from two goals down before his 79th-minute effort raised hopes of victory.
However, 19-year-old striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga earned Hertha a point with his second goal of the match three minutes later.
Hamburg remained worryingly close to the relegation zone after dropping points in a 1-1 draw at Hannover.
On-loan French defender Jeffrey Bruma put the visitors ahead in the 64th minute, but striker Jan Schlaudraff equalized quarter of an hour later.
Nuremberg moved away from the bottom three with a 1-0 win at home to fellow strugglers Kaiserslautern thanks to an opportunistic 14th-minute strike from Timothy Chandler which ended a run of eight games without victory.
Freiburg remained second-bottom despite snatching a 1-1 draw at mid-table Hoffenheim, as Garra Dembele’s 90th-minute strike canceled Roberto Firmino’s first-half opener.
Augsburg stayed bottom despite winning 2-0 at home to 2009 champions Wolfsburg thanks to second-half goals from midfielder Daniel Brinkmann and Albania striker Edmond Kapllani.
