Schalke missed a chance to knock Bayern Munich off the top of the
Bundesliga on Sunday when it had to settle for a 2-2 draw at
Hamburger SV.
Bayern lost 2-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday and
Schalke could have moved a point clear at the top with a win.
Ruud van Nistelrooy scored for Hamburg late in the first half
but Schalke turned the game around with a goal from Kevin Kuranyi
and a penalty converted by Ivan Rakitic during a five-minute spell
in the second half.
Substitute Jonathan Pitroipa salvaged a point for Hamburg
with an equalizer in the 77th minute, but Hamburg fell to sixth
place and out of the two slots for the Europa League next season.
Another of Bayern's rivals for the championship failed to
take advantage of Bayern's first loss after 19 Bundesliga games
when Bayer Leverkusen went down 3-0 at Borussia Dortmund.
With seven games remaining, Bayern leads the standings with
56 points, while Schalke has 55. Leverkusen has 53.
Dortmund is fourth on 48 and Werder Bremen has 45 in fifth,
moving past Hamburg with a 3-2 win over Bochum on Saturday.
In the late game Sunday, Greek striker Fanis Gekas scored a
hat-trick as bottom-place Hertha Berlin humiliated Wolfsburg 5-1 in
the champion's stadium.
Adrian Ramos added the other two goals for Berlin, while
Grafite scored for Wolfsburg, which essentially gave up after the
visiting team had gone 3-0 up in the first 26 minutes.
Berlin revived its slim hopes of escaping relegation by
reducing the gap on both Freiburg and Hannover to five points.
Schalke is seeking its first championship in 52 years and
coach Felix Magath his second in a row after leading Wolfsburg to
the title last season. Schalke plays Bayern twice before Easter,
next week in the semifinals in the German Cup and then in the
Bundesliga on April 3 in a match that could decide the title.
"Of course we are disappointed because we had a good chance
of winning this game," Kuranyi said after notching his 15th goal of
the season. "We didn't take all the opportunities we had.
"But we have to look ahead and keep collecting points."
Midfielder Alexander Baumjohann said it didn't matter now
whether Schalke was first or second. "We can live with a point away
from home," he said.
Hamburg went ahead five minutes before halftime following a
free kick form Piotr Trochowski from 22 meters (yards). Schalke
goalkeeper Manuel Neuer parried the shot but the ball bounced
straight into the path of Van Nistelrooy, who showed extraordinary
balance in striking the ball with the outside of his heel.
The pace picked up considerably after the break following an
uneventful first half and Schalke nearly increased its lead when
Kuranyi sent Edu through, the striker rounded Hamburg's goalkeeper
Frank Rost but Tomas Rincon made an improbable sliding save on the
ground with his head.
Schalke turned the game when David Rozehnhal attempted to
clear a cross in the 62nd minute, but the ball glanced off his head
to the far post, where Kuranyi nodded home.
Five minutes later, Van Nistelrooy brought down Baumjohann to
give away a penalty and Rakitic converted from the spot to put
Schalke ahead.
Hamburg leveled when Trochowski's low delivery across the
face of the goal found Pitroipa at the far post for a simple
tap-in.
Baumjohann nearly snatched a win for Schalke in the final
minutes, though, with a shot that struck the Hamburg crossbar.
"We showed good morale after falling behind," Hamburg's coach
Bruno Labbadia said. "It was a very difficult game."
