Marek Mintal scored his league-leading 13th goal Saturday, and a roaring crowd helped short-handed FC Nuremberg stun front-runner Bayern Munich 2-2 to throw the Bundesliga title race wide open.
Bayern's draw in a wild derby -- which featured two red cards, disputed calls and Nuremberg's spirited fight with 10 men for 65 minutes -- gave Schalke a chance to pull even on points with a win Sunday against Dortmund.
PHOTO: AFP
Also, Stuttgart routed Bochum 5-2 behind two Kevin Kuranyi goals to close to within three points of Bayern on a day when the Bundesliga overcame chilly weather to generate a season-record 30 goals in seven matches.
Bayern came into the south German derby riding a six-match winning streak and had scored 15 goals in its last four matches. For the opening minutes, it appeared headed to another rout.
Forward Roy Makaay wasted a wide open chance in the second minute and Michael Ballack's 10th-minute header was falsely ruled offsides.
"There was no way Makaay should miss that goal. If he had scored, we could have spared ourselves all the drama later," disgusted Bayern coach Felix Magath said. "But I guess it was entertaining for the crowd."
The 42,500 spectators at Frankenstadion came alive in the 23rd minute when Mintal put the hosts ahead -- Nuremberg's first real threat against the dominant Bayern. Even the ejection of Andreas Wolf two minutes later didn't stop the roaring.
The Croatian striker met a long cross in the air, forcing Oliver Kahn into an acrobatic one-handed save, but Mintal headed the rebound past the sprawling Bayern goalkeeper.
"The only way we could stay in the match was through passion and by fighting," said Nuremberg coach Wolfgang Wolf, who celebrated the draw with his 12th-place team like it was a title.
Nuremberg players credited the vocal crowd with spurring on their effort. The spectators responded with a standing ovation at the final whistle.
Bayern next faces Stuttgart in the 17th and final round before the league's two-month winter break in a showdown for the "fall championship." One of the two clubs, along with Schalke, will spend the idle months atop the table.
Munich has 33 points, followed by Stuttgart and Schalke with 30. But Schalke has Sunday's match in hand.
There was also plenty of entertainment for the rest of the league's fans, starting with Bremen's 6-0 rout of Freiburg and Berlin's 6-0 thrashing of Moenchengladbach.
Also, surprising Hannover climbed to fourth with a 2-0 win against Hamburg, Leverkusen edged Wolfsburg 2-1 and Rostock and Bielefeld drew 1-1.
Arsenal won for the first time in five matches Saturday, getting two goals from Thierry Henry to beat Birmingham 3-0, while Chelsea and Manchester United also posted comfortable wins in the Premier League.
Arsenal dropped its German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who had started every match in the club's record 49 match unbeaten league streak, for Manuel Almunia.
The Spaniard kept Arsenal's first clean sheet in 14 matches, but didn't have a lot to do. Robert Pires added the other goal at Highbury.
"It's good to get back to our winning habits," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "It was important for us to win today, maybe a bit less in style, but we did the job. We did it with a great focus and a great strength."
Chelsea stayed in first place, five points ahead of Arsenal, with a 4-0 win over Newcastle.
The Red Devils beat Southampton 3-0 on second-half goals from Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo for its seventh straight win in all competitions.
"You can smell the winning mentality all right," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "The confidence is back, the training is going well and we are looking forward to games.
"We are still nine points behind Chelsea and pulling that back will be a mammoth task but maybe things will have changed a little by New Years' Day."
Everton stayed in third place by snatching a 3-2 win over Bolton thanks to a Radhi Jaidi own-goal with five minutes left.
Tottenham beat Blackburn 1-0 in the late match, with Robbie Keane's 56th-minute strike ending Rovers' five-match unbeaten run.
Chelsea leads with 39 points, followed by Arsenal with 34, Everton with 33 and Manchester United with 30.
John Hartson scored twice to give Celtic a 2-1 win over Hibernian and the lead of the Scottish Premier League on Saturday.
Celtic has a two point lead over previous leader Rangers, which is at Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday. Hartson scored in the 18th minute, with Gary Caldwell leveling for Hibs in the 75th. Hartson scored the winner with seven minutes remaining.
"That was an absolutely terrific football game," Celtic manager Martin O'Neill said. "Hibs were absolutely splendid and definitely deserved something out of the game.
"We got in front but they kept coming at us and they showed great freedom today."
Celtic has 41 points, followed by Rangers on 39, Aberdeen on 34 and Hibs on 27.
Aberdeen beat Kilmarnock 3-2 to equal last season's entire points tally of 34.
Danny Invincibile and Peter Leven had twice put Killie ahead within the first 18 minutes, only for Aberdeen's Fernando Pasquinelli to level each time.
Chris Clark gave Aberdeen the win in the 72nd. Killie lost Colin Nish to a red card in the 77th.
"It is fantastic to equal last season's total after only 17 games, but we have achieved nothing yet and you have to remember that teams have been relegated with 34 points," Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood said.
Aberdeen finished 11th out of 12 teams last season after 38 matches.
Samuel Eto'o scored twice Saturday to help FC Barcelona beat lowly Malaga 4-0 and extend its lead in the Spanish league to 10 points.
Deco and midfielder Andres Iniesta also scored for an impressive Barcelona, which maintained its perfect record at the Camp Nou and won for the 11th time in 14 matches this season.
"The key was the work, the organization and the seriousness shown by my players. A lot of quality went into this result," Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard said.
In another game, Xisco Munoz scored a late goal to earn Valencia a 1-0 win over Albacete, lifting the defending champion into third place. In Saturday's late match, host Real Sociedad ended Real Betis' 10-match unbeaten run, 1-0.
Barcelona leads the league with 35 points, while Real Madrid and Valencia have 25 each. Madrid, however, has a game in hand. Espanyol is fourth with 23, while Betis stays fifth with 21.
Peruvian Jefferson Farfan scored twice and created another in leading PSV Eindhoven to a 4-0 victory over De Graafschap on Saturday, the 12th straight league match the Dutch league leader has not conceded a goal.
PSV has not allowed a goal since a 2-2 draw with NAC Breda on Aug. 28 in the third round of the season, a streak of 1,120 minutes. The scoreless string breaks the record of 1,082 minutes Ajax and goalkeeper Heinz Stuy set in the 1970-1971 season.
Brazilian goalkeeper Gomez has been in goal for the past 10 matches, taking over for Edwin Zoetebier, who was the starting goalkeeper for the first five games of the season.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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