Schalke scored twice early in the second half to beat Stuttgart 2-1
at home on Friday night and move to the top of the Bundesliga.
Edu put Schalke ahead just after the break, but Serdar Tasci
equalized for Stuttgart in the 50th minute before Kevin Kuranyi
scored the winner five minutes later.
The victory moved Felix Magath's team to the top of the table
with 54 points from 26 rounds, but Bayern Munich have 53 points and
can regain the lead with a win at home over Freiburg on Saturday.
"We are not thinking about the lead too much. We are happy
about this victory. It was very important. But it was just the
start of a tough stretch and we have to keep working," said
Kuranyi, whose team faces Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern
Munich in the next three Bundesliga matches.
"Of course we are proud to have picked up three important
points. And we absolutely deserved to win this game. What's
important is that we do not relax and keep pushing forward," added
Schalke's Heiko Westermann.
Stuttgart missed a chance to close within four points of the
European qualification spots and remains on 35 points in seventh
place.
"The first half was good. And we made two mistakes in the
second half. Otherwise we played excellent," Stuttgart coach
Christian Gross said.
After a lacklustre first half, Schalke scored just 52 seconds
into the second half. Tasci tried to clear a through ball but it
went directly to Edu, who blasted a first-time shot from 12 yards
for his first goal of the season.
Tasci made good his mistake just four minutes later as he
found plenty of room between Westermann and Kuranyi to head home
Zdravko Kuzmanovic's free kick.
But Westermann and Kuranyi made up for their error as both
beat the Stuttgart offside trap to combine for the winner, with
Westermann passing to Kuranyi, who struck the ball home for his
14th goal of the season.
The goal pulled Kuranyi even with Bayer Leverkusen's Stephan
Kiessling at the top of the league scoring charts.
