Freiburg moved off the foot of the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon with a surprise win over Champions League-chasing Schalke.
Sebastian Freis and Daniel Caligiuri were on target for the home side as they bounced back from their 4-1 defeat to Stuttgart last weekend with a victory which effectively ends Schalke's diminishing hopes of winning the Bundesliga this season.
Teemu Pukki scored a consolation for the Royal Blues, who ended the game with 10 men as Kyriakos Papadopoulos saw red late on.
Freiburg coach Christian Streich said he was happy with what he saw, despite a heavy defeat in the Baden-Wurttemberg derby last weekend, and he will be even happier with his side's home form as they followed up a 0-0 draw with Bayern Munich a fortnight ago with victory over Schalke.
After a slow start, they got in gear with Freis putting them in front in the 18th minute.
Johannes Flum sent the ball through to the striker, who used his pace to race clear and beat Timo Hildebrand from a tight angle, threading a shot just inside the near post on the stretch.
Schalke responded well with Benedikt Howedes' shot saved by Oliver Baumann.
The referee waved away Freiburg's protests when they demanded a penalty for a foul on Caligiuri in the 63rd minute, but he pointed to the spot two minutes later.
Papadopoulos blocked Schmid's path as he entered the penalty area and the Freiburg forward fell to the ground with the referee taken in by his fall.
Caligiuri sent the ball unstoppably right into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal.
Pukki was sent on for Raul and he soon found the target with a low shot into the far corner from a tight angle when the Freiburg defence probably expected him to cross the ball.
Schalke searched for an equaliser and they came close to getting it when they hit the post through Papadopoulos, who then picked up his second yellow card of the game in the 87th minute.
They were unable to find an equaliser as their second straight defeat leaves them with little chance of catching Borussia Dortmund at the top of the table, while they now need to look over their shoulders with Bayer Leverkusen just four points adrift in the hunt for a place in the Champions League next season.
