Champions insipid
Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund needed a late equaliser to seal a 1-1 draw at ten-man Hamburg on Saturday to stay on course for their first league title since 2002 with five games remaining.
"We had to wait a long time for the equaliser, but we deserved the 1-1 draw," said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp after Dortmund midfielder Kuba scored in the 92nd minute.
"We didn't really play enough football in the first half, but after that we played with much more purpose. I can live with the result."
Dortmund fell behind when Hamburg striker Mladen Petric was fouled from behind by Germany defender Mats Hummels in the penalty area and ex-Real Madrid star Ruud van Nistelrooy fired home from the spot on 39 minutes.
Borussia's rising star Mario Goetze had a chance cleared with the ball almost over the line just before the half-time whistle and the 18-year-old wunderkind then headed over the bar after the break.
Hamburg were reduced to ten men when 22-year-old midfielder Aenis Ben-Hatira was sent off for a second yellow card late in the game.
With time almost up, Poland midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski -- known as Kuba for short -- latched onto the end of a towering pass from ex-Germany defender Patrick Owomoyela to fire home and give his side a valuable point.
Hanover went third at the expense of defending champions Bayern Munich with a 2-0 win at home to Mainz.
Bayern are fourth after they drew 1-1 at Nuremberg in the Bavarian derby, while Dutch winger Arjen Robben earned a red card in the 93rd minute for insulting the referee.
Germany midfielder Thomas Mueller put the guests ahead after just five minutes, but Nuremberg striker Christian Eigler equalised on the hour mark to share the points.
The draw means Bayern are still six points short of second place and a guaranteed Champions League place next season.
Fresh from their 5-2 win at holder Inter Milan in the Champions League in midweek, Schalke 04 earned a 1-0 home over VfL Wolfsburg, whose ex-coach Felix Magath returned to Gelsenkirchen just three weeks after being sacked by the Royal Blues.
The defeat leaves 2009 German champions Wolfsburg third from bottom and two points from safety while Schalke are up to ninth.
RESULTS
Schalke 04 1 (Jurado 76)
VfL Wolfsburg 0
Hamburg 1 (van Nistelrooy 39-pen) Borussia Dortmund 1
(Blaszczykowski 90+2)
Freiburg 3 (Schuster 23, Cisse 60-pen, Butscher 78) Hoffenheim 2
(Ibisevic 34-pen, Babel 42)
Hanover 96 2 (Ya Konan 45+1-pen, Pinto 59) Mainz 05 0
Nuremberg 1 (Eigler 60) Bayern
Munich 1 (Mueller 5)
VfB Stuttgart 2 (Kuzmanovic 26-pen, Pogrebnyak 39) Kaiserslautern 4 (Lakic 17, 79, Hoffer 68, Rivic 86)
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