Borussia Dortmund kept up their pursuit of Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga, although they left it late to see off 10-man Hoffenheim on Sunday.
Sebastian Rudy gave Hoffenheim the lead and it looked like they were set to continue their recent revival under new coach Julian Nagelsmann until the Hoffenheim captain was sent off on the hour mark.
Dortmund increased the pressure and finally made the breakthrough with 10 minutes remaining, through Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Adrian Ramos and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang then sealed a 3-1 victory, with the latter moving to within one goal of Bayern's Robert Lewandowski at the top of the goalscoring chart, as Dortmund returned to within eight points of Bayern at the top of the table.
Bayer Leverkusen's challenge for Champions League football next season came off the rails in Mainz.
Yunus Malli scored twice for the home team, with Jhon Cordoba hitting their third in a 3-1 win which takes them one point above Leverkusen into fifth. Javier Hernandez scored the Werkself's consolation.
Borussia Monchengladbach were held to a 2-2 draw at Augsburg which saw them end the weekend three points behind third-placed Hertha Berlin. Raffael's opener was overhauled by Alfred Finnbogason and Caiuby but Fabian Johnson salvaged a point.
Finally, Schalke are down in seventh after they followed up their disappointing 3-0 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Europa League with a goalless draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Bundesliga returns on Tuesday and Wednesday for a round of midweek action.
Source: PA-WIRE
