Updated Mar 19, 2011 4:59 PM ET
Substitute Petar Sliskovic scored a late equalizer for Mainz in a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Bundesliga leader Borussia Dortmund, as the home side protested that a key player lay injured on Saturday.
Sliskovic scored in the 89th minute as defender Neven Subotic lay on the ground, slotting past goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller from close range.
"The result is OK. Mainz remained very dangerous the whole time. They simply have quality," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said.
Dortmund is provisionally 10 points clear of Bayer Leverkusen, which can cut the gap at the top of the standings to seven if it beats Schalke at home on Sunday.
Mainz remains fifth, behind Bayern Munich which earlier won 2-1 at Freiburg.
Mats Hummels gave Dortmund the lead in the eighth, when he deflected Nuri Sahin's free kick past Christian Wetklo.
Wetklo gave away a penalty nine minutes later, when the goalkeeper was lucky to escape with a yellow card after taking out Lucas Barrios, later substituted.
Sahin's spot kick lacked conviction and Wetklo was able to save.
Mainz slowly came into the game, with Andre Schuerrle and Lewis Holtby causing problems for the Dortmund defense.
Weidenfeller was grateful for the linesman's flag in the 58th, when he spilled the ball for Sami Allagui to slot it into the right corner, only for the effort to be ruled offside.
Lukasz Piszczek had a chance to score the winner for Dortmund after Sliskovic's hotly contested equalizer but his shot was blocked.
"We played a good game and were rewarded for the effort," Mainz defender Christian Fuchs said.
Earlier, Franck Ribery scored a late winner for Bayern at Freiburg to keep his team two points away from a Champions League qualification place.
Ribery blasted the ball past Oliver Baumann from 25 meters (yards) in the 88th minute, after Mario Gomez's ninth-minute opener was canceled out by Papiss Demba Cisse.
"That was important for Bayern, for these players, for these fans, for this club," Ribery said. "Of course we have to play in the Champions League next season."
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Bayern keeper Thomas Kraft brought Cedrick Makiadi down into the penalty area, but made amends when he saved Cisse's spot kick in the 14th.
Munich remains fourth, two points behind Hannover which beat Hoffenheim 2-0 at home.
"The lads certainly fought to the limit, but then the individual quality of Ribery delivered the killer blow," Freiburg coach Robin Dutt said.
Gomez converted Bayern's first chance when poor defending allowed him to head Ribery's free kick past Baumann for his 19th goal of the season.
Cisse kept his season tally one behind, when he equalized in the 18th after poor defending from Luiz Gustavo allowed him to stab the ball past Kraft from eight meters (yards).
Bayern suffered another blow when Arjen Robben went off with an injury in the 30th, to be replaced by Hamit Altintop.
Bayern coach Louis van Gaal sent Miroslav Klose on for his 300th Bundesliga appearance with 20 minutes remaining, but it was Altintop who had two good chances to reclaim the lead, before Ribery fired past Baumann from the left.
"I think my players fought to the end and it's good to see they want to win so much," Van Gaal said.
Hannover consolidated third place when Didier Ya Konan returned from a knee injury to open the scoring in the 38th. The Ivorian beat Hoffenheim keeper Tom Starke at the near post for his 12th goal of the season, and was also involved in Hannover's second.
Michael Oenning marked his first game in charge of Hamburger SV with a 6-2 win at home over Cologne, Eintracht Frankfurt beat St. Pauli 2-1, and Werder Bremen won 3-1 at Nuremberg.
Former assistant coach Oenning took over after Hamburg sacked Armin Veh last Sunday, and restored Ruud van Nistelrooy to the starting lineup for the first time in five games, as Mladen Petric claimed a hat trick.
"The team was well aware it had to show a reaction," Oenning said. "But this is only the first step."
Fanis Gekas scored his first goals since Dec. 18 to give Eintracht Frankfurt its first win of 2011.
The Greek striker sent St. Pauli goalkeeper Thomas Kessler the wrong way from the spot in the 34th, and canceled out Charles Takyi's equalizer with his 16th of the season in the 77th, to give St. Pauli a fifth straight defeat.
Sandro Wagner scored two penalties won by Claudio Pizarro, and the Peruvian striker also scored as Werder Bremen ended Nuremberg's seven-game unbeaten run.
Ilkay Guendogan briefly equalized for Nuremberg, which had Timothy Chandler sent off for a second yellow card.
Updated Mar 19, 2011 11:36 AM ET
Schalke will have a new man on the bench for Sunday's trip to Bayer Leverkusen, but he already knows he will not last more than a single game.
Josef Eichkorn will be keeping the seat warm for Ralf Rangnick after taking over from Felix Magath, whose contract was terminated during a turbulent week in the Bundesliga.
Although Eichkorn will lead the Royal Blues out for the one and only time at the BayArena on Sunday, he admits he has a lot of work to do.
"I have got to ensure that the team is focused on the Leverkusen game so that, if possible, we can get some points," he said.
"The team has no clear leadership structure. There are many players who don't speak German and it is not a close-knit unit.
"You need a lot of sensitivity to get these many different players focused on a task and it may have worked with some players, but not all of them."
Rangnick will then become the new coach of Schalke on Monday with Eichkorn likely to be part of his coaching staff.
And the club's director of sport Horst Heldt is expecting the team to be "hugely motivated" following the changes.
"The players can be sure that Ralf Rangnick will be watching this game closely," he said.
"Therefore, each individual player will have to do his best to convince the new coach of his qualities.
"The players should be hugely motivated."
Bayer Leverkusen are prepared for this and know Schalke are going to be tougher opponents than their current league position suggests.
"The situation is now different and it is well known that, after a change in coach, the next few games are something special for the players," said Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes.
He has doubts over the fitness of Stefan Kiessling and Gonzalo Castro, who both picked up injuries in the Europa League defeat to Villarreal on Thursday.
Schalke are without the suspended Jefferson Farfan while Klaas Jan Huntelaar is also still sidelined through injury.
Joel Matip could start if Christoph Metzelder fails to shake off a flu virus.
The 57-year-old begins work at Volkswagen Arena with immediate effect and will be on the bench for Sunday's Bundesliga game at Stuttgart.
He will take his first training session this afternoon.
Magath returns for his second stint at Wolfsburg after leading the club to the Bundesliga title in 2009 before joining Schalke, where he secured a second-placed finish last season.
However, he left Schalke on Wednesday with the club sitting 10th in the Bundesliga standings after losing the support of the players.
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I seriously am surprised that magath go the boot to begin with. He has them in the dfb final against a noone 2nd BL squad and in the champions league qf's. We'll see in the next few matches if it has any effect.
I haven't seen any hate for Felix Magath in the postings for this story, Detleg. Though I was very critical of Magath in his time in charge of Schalke, I don't wish him ill in any way. In fact, I wish him good luck, except when his one of his teams play against Schalke, of course! Magath may have been a very good coach in the past with Stuttgart and FC Bayern and Wolfsburg, but he did not do a very good job at Schalke overall. It's all water under the bridge now anyway as Rangnick is back as head coach at Schalke while Magath is back in charge at Wolfsburg. All is right and well with the world once again!
I'm sure Magath will make plenty of changes at Wolfsburg in the off-season. But he is inheriting a pretty strong squad right now. If he can get them to play better, they should stave off relegation fairly easily.
I kind of wonder if Magath will try to pick up any of the Schalke players he signed who may be discarded at the end of the season? I mean, he saw something in them enough to sign them in the first place, right?!
I also wonder if his assistants at Schalke are going to go directly to Wolfsburg now? I haven't heard anything about that yet. Magath always keeps the same people around him wherever he goes, so I suspect they'll be with him soon enough. Sepp Eichkorn will be the head coach for Schalke tomorrow at Leverkusen. I wonder if he'll leave Schalke immediately after?
Saarbruecken had some good days, I remember Eric Wynalda shining for them. But Kraut, you are still better off than me because eventhough KSC did well for a while (even beating Sevilla in the UEFA cup once), I called the Kurpfalz home and we cried when Waldhof under Stielike crumbled and didn't make it back up. Schwenkbraten makes me drool, but what about a bite of Saumagen right now! Congrats to Saarbruecken, I hope to come all the way up back and dwell with Kaiserslautern in those derbies! Dex and Donau, it would be a DISASTER if Stuttgart goes down. DAIMLER cannot go under. NO and NO! Balakov, Elber, Bobic.....No way!
Stier4, I was born in the Saarland and continue to be a long suffering fan of the once glorious FC Saarbrucken, who recently climbed into the 3rd Liga. Talking about the Saarland makes me want to get the Schwenk out and make Schwenkbraten.
My bad, I thought Quaelix won with Stuttgart too! Sorry! As much as I see you cry for your beloved Schalke, you don't wanna know the names of the teams I supported in Baden and Kurpfalz at the time: Waldhof Manem and KSC. Pathetic. The former more pathetic than the latter! Am sure the whole place is now Hoffland!
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