Bundesliga leader Schalke drew 1-1 at Hannover 96 on Saturday to remain winless in four straight games.
Schalke, who were seven points clear at the top of the Bundesliga could see its lead cut to just one point if Werder Bremen won yesterday at Bayern Munich.
Stuttgart also drew -- 0-0 at home against Wolfsburg -- and failed to move past Bremen into second place.
PHOTO: REUTERS
There was more bad news for Stuttgart when it lost the league's leading striker Mario Gomez for six weeks. Gomez, who recently made his debut for Germany and who tops the league scoring with 13 goals, damaged ligaments in his left knee during the game.
Gomez won't be available for Germany's European Championship qualifier against the Czech Republic in Prague on March 24.
Stuttgart's general manager Horst Heldt said Gomez would not have surgery.
Defending champion Bayern Munich could have joined Bremen and Stuttgart at 46 points if it won the highlight match of the round yesterday.
Schalke now has 50 points, Bremen and Stuttgart 46, and Bayern 43.
At the bottom, only four points separate next-to-last Arminia Bielefeld from ninth-place Alemannia Aachen. Borussia Moenchengladbach, which beat Hertha Berlin 3-1, is two points behind Bielefeld, which lost 1-0 at Mainz.
In other games, Aachen won 2-0 at Energie Cottbus and Bochum beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0.
On Friday, Nuremberg and Eintracht Frankfurt drew 2-2.
Schalke went ahead less than two minutes into the game against Hannover when Halil Altintop connected with a free-kick from Mesut Oezil, an 18-year-old making his Bundesliga debut.
But only two minutes later, Michael Tarnat prodded the ball home after Schalke's defense failed to clear a fumble by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Hannover failed to capitalize on another fumble by Neuer late in the match but he stopped another effort by the home team in injury time.
Schalke has two draws and two losses in its last four games.
"Sometimes you have to be happy with a point on the road," Schalke coach Mairko Slomka said. "It wasn't an outstanding game."
Stuttgart could not break down Wolfsburg and had to thank its reserve goalkeeper Michael Langer, starting for the first time for injured Timo Hildebrand, for at least taking a point.
Moenchengladbach won for the first time in nine home games with two goals from Nando Rafael, who formerly played for Berlin.
Michael Delura also scored for the home team, which is desperately trying to avoid relegation. Christian Gimenez scored for Berlin, which is falling rapidly out of UEFA Cup range.
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