Jose Manuel Jurado put the Royal Blues in front in the 58th minute after the home side had weathered a first-half storm, thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Benedikt Howedes then sealed the win midway through the second half to ease the pressure on coach Felix Magath and increase it on his Bayern counterpart Louis van Gaal.

The defeat left Bayern seventh and still 14 points adrift of leaders Borussia Dortmund, who play Nurnberg tomorrow, while Schalke moved four points clear of the bottom three.

Second-placed Mainz missed the chance to narrow Dortmund's seven-point lead as they went down 2-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Marco Russ gave Frankfurt the lead after 35 minutes before Andre Schurrle levelled the game from the spot in the 42nd minute.

But Theofanis Gekas converted a penalty of his own to secure Frankfurt the three points.

Hannover scored twice in three minutes to come from behind and beat 10-man Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 - taking them third, two points behind Mainz.

Michael Bradley gave basement boys Gladbach the lead in the 19th minute, but the hosts had Raul Bobadilla sent off after 43 minutes.

And the 10 men could not hold out as Mike Hanke levelled in the 73rd minute and Didier Ya Konan grabbed the winner.

Third-bottom Stuttgart missed the chance to claim a much-needed win as they were held 1-1 at home by 10-man Hoffenheim.

Sejad Salihovic gave Hoffenheim the lead after 11 minutes, but Martin Harnik brought the hosts level in the 34th.

Hoffenheim were reduced to 10 men four minutes before the break when Isaac Vorsah was shown the red card, but Stuttgart could not make that advantage count in the second half.

Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen drew 0-0 with both captains - Bremen's Torsten Frings in the 74th minute and Wolfsburg's Edin Dzeko three minutes later - missing penalties.

An early goal from Papiss Demba Cisse earned Freiburg a 1-0 win at home to Hamburg.