Bundesliga Weekend Review
Werder Bremen missed out on a great chance to close the gap with Bayer Leverkusen while Stuttgart's struggles continued.
On Sunday, Cologne had the better of the chances despite having the worst goal-scoring record in the league.
Werder came into the game with 12 goals in their last three contests but could only draw in Cologne to move to 28 points in second place - three points behind Bayer Leverkusen.
Schalke moved up to third in the Bundesliga thanks to a workmanlike performance in beating struggling Hertha Berlin 2-0 tonight.
Kevin Kuranyi's 100th Bundesliga goal put the Royal Blues in front on the hour mark and a stoppage-time penalty from Rafinha sealed the win.
Berlin put up a brave fight as they went down to their 12th defeat of the season with Adrian Ramos missing a glorious opportunity to earn them a draw, but it was not their night as they also lost Christoph Janker to a late red card.
The defeat means Hertha Berlin will certainly end 2009 at the foot of the table since they trail 17th-placed Nurnberg by seven points with just two games remaining.
On Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen were held to a goalless draw at Hamburg.
Borussia Dortmund enjoyed an easy 4-0 win over Nurnberg with four different players on the scoresheet.
Kevin Grosskreutz, Lucas Barrios and Mohamed Zidan all scored in the first half and Mats Hummels (62) completed the rout.
Eintracht Frankfurt beat 10-man Mainz 2-0 with Maik Franz (29) and Alexander Meier (90) grabbing the goals.
Chadli Amri was sent off for the visitors after 68 minutes.
Hamburg and Hoffenheim fought out a goalless stalemate and Stuttgart and Bochum also settled for a point after a 1-1 draw.
Serdar Tasci (63) put Stuttgart in front but Christian Fuchs equalised in the 89th minute for Bochum.
Fabian Johnson secured a point for Wolfsburg with an 81st-minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Freiburg.
An own goal from Felix Bastians had cancelled out Mohammadou Idrissou's opener before Ivica Banovic (50) put Freiburg in front from the penalty spot.
Match Reports
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