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Schalke 04 slip up in race for German title after 2-1 loss

Bundesliga leaders Schalke 04 suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at VfL Bochum on Friday, throwing the title race wide open.

Schalke, top since early February, have 62 points from 31 matches. Second-placed Werder Bremen (60) play their game in hand at Arminia Bielefeld today while VfB Stuttgart (58), in third spot, travelled to Borussia Moenchengladbach yesterday.

"We're still first and the others are going to have to win to get past us," said Schalke coach Mirko Slomka in a television interview. "But it is no longer in our hands."

"I don't expect we'll still be first by the end of the weekend but there's still a lot left in this season and we can't stop playing good football now. The other teams will have their hopes up but we're still in the fight," he said.

Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi put Schalke ahead in the ninth minute, outjumping his marker to head a free kick from Christian Pander past Bochum goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny.

Gerard Asamoah squandered a chance to make it 2-0 before Bochum equalized in the 33rd when Bosnia playmaker Zvjezdan Misimovic nodded in a cross from Dennis Grote.

Greece striker Theofanis Gekas, watched by his international coach Otto Rehhagel, grabbed the winner four minutes from the interval when he tapped in a low cross from Marcel Maltritz for his 19th league goal of the season.

Schalke dominated the second period but were unable to find a way to break down Bochum's defense.

It was the seventh goal in seven matches for Gekas, the Bundesliga's top scorer.

His hot streak has helped Bochum, who have won four of their last six games, to rise from 16th to seventh.

"I'm a striker, it's my job to score goals," Gekas said. "We scored two lovely goals and won."

Schalke led the league late in the season twice in the previous five years before finishing poorly.

Slomka's team last won the championship in the pre-Bundesliga days of 1958.
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