Reigning champions Borussia Dortmund missed the chance to keep the pressure up on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich after being held to a draw at Stuttgart.
Serdar Tasci gave Stuttgart the lead after 22 minutes before Dortmund equalised in first-half stoppage-time through Lukasz Piszczek.
Third-placed Dortmund, who had won their previous four matches, pushed for the win late on but had to settle for the draw to slip five points behind Bayern, who beat Nurnberg 4-0 today.
Stuttgart, in fifth, have lost just one of their last seven matches to improve to 18 points.
The game started with a 15 minute delay as Dortmund were held up in traffic.
Dortmund nearly took the lead after just three minutes as Robert Lewandowski saw his shot crash against the left post. And Mario Gotze shot just wide left seconds later for the visitors.
Stuttgart pulled ahead with a bit of luck as Martin Harnik's shot hit the right post and flew across the goalmouth to Tasci, who pounced on the loose ball to slot home.
Gotze appeared to be taken down inside the area by Christian Molinaro but referee Manuel Grafe did not point to spot in the 37th minute.
Dortmund were able to equalise just prior to half-time with Gotze and Shinji Kawaga both involved before Piszczek turned the ball in from four yards out.
Kawaga nearly gave Dortmund the lead five minutes after the restart but Stuttgart keeper Sven Ulreich pushed the Japan international's shot around the post.
Kawaga had a superb chance 10 minutes later after working himself into space but his shot went over the bar.
Dortmund pushed forward feverishly looking for the victory at the end but Ulreich denied Gotze from 12 yards out in the 88th minute, before the Stuttgart custodian produced a great reflex to stop Neven Subotic's header a minute later from six yards out.
