By IANS
Berlin : Newly-promoted Karlsruher defeated title hopefuls FC Schalke 04 2-0 in an away match, sealing the second place in German Bundesliga football and coming just two points behind leaders Bayern Munich, reports Xinhua.
Schalke, who looked tired in their seventh match in three weeks, suffered their first defeat of the season and their first home defeat since Mar 2.
Christian Timm opened the scoring from Tamas Hajnal’s pass midway through the second half, handing Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer his first goal against in 446 minutes.
And it was again Timm from Hajnal’s pass who made sure of the points for Karlsruher seven minutes from time.
Schalke were made to work hard to create chances. Jermaine Jones and Kevin Kuranyi had the only ones in the first half.
Kuranyi then was unlucky when a “goal” after 64 minutes was ruled out for offside.
German league champions VfB Stuttgart duplicated the fate of Schalke Saturday by losing to Hannover 96 0-2 at home, putting an end to a run of 19 unbeaten home matches.
The guests recorded their third successive win, while Stuttgart suffered their third defeat in a week.
Szabolcs Huszti scored from the resulting penalty and with a second-half header to hand Hannover their third away win of the season. It was Hannover’s first win in Stuttgart since May 22, 1971.
Stuttgart seemed to be bewildered from the first whistle and Huszti could have capitalised on a Meira mistake after just 130 seconds.
Four minutes later Meira handled ahead of an empty goal and was sent off by referee Markus Merk. He faces a ban, adding to VfB’s injury worries.
In other matches, Arminia lost to Hamburg SV 0-1 while Hertha Berlin saw an unwilling goalless tie with visiting FC Energie, who are still at the bottom of the Bundesliga table.
Wolfsburg beat newly promoted Rostock 1-0, while Duisburg lost 1-3 to Werder Bremen.