Miroslav Klose spared Bayern Munich's blushes with a second-half header as the Bundesliga leaders stayed top of the table with a 1-1 draw with Schalke 04 at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.
It was Klose's fourth league goal of the season and calmed Bayern's nerves to maintain their unbeaten record as his equalizer gave his side a narrow one-point lead over second-placed Arminia Bielefeld.
Schalke had taken the lead against the run of play when Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic slammed home his shot from the edge of the penalty area on 35 minutes to beat Bayern's goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Bayern's Italian striker Luca Toni had earlier squandered three clear chances to give his side the lead, but it stayed 1-0 to the Royal Blues at halftime.
But the German giants, chasing their 21st crown as national champions, got back on level terms when a Franck Ribery free-kick was headed into the path of Klose and the German striker, the top scorer at last year's World Cup, headed home on 54 minutes.
"We had planned to take three points from this game to put some distance between us and the rest of the table, but we didn't manage it," Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said. "The first half an hour was good, but we missed our chances and we were a bit too timid. In the second half, it was a much tighter game and Schalke demanded a lot of us. I think both teams earned the draw."
Schalke boss Mirko Slomka, who celebrated his 40th birthday in midweek, acknowledged his side squandered their chances.
"After the first 20 minutes, it didn't look like we would win, Bayern were all over us and exposed some of our problems in defense," he said. "But once we got our goal, we really flowed and it could have been 2-0 at the break. The team played well and we did well to take a point from Bayern."
Elsewhere on Saturday, defending Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart picked up a much-needed three points with a 3-0 win at home to Energie Cottbus.
Brazilian's Cacau and Ewerthon scored second-half goals before Germany's player of the year Mario Gomez came off the bench to score the third.
It was only Stuttgart's second win in five Bundesliga games and lifted them up to seventh.
Second-place Arminia Bielefeld routed bottom-side Hansa Rostock 4-2 to keep the pressure on Bayern at the top of the table.
Bielefeld took the lead when midfielder Joerg Boehme crashed home his indirect free-kick which took a deflection off Rostock's Nigerian striker Victor Agali after 31 minutes.
Rostock was able to equalize just after the break, but Bielefeld put the game beyond doubt with three goals in nine minutes as striker Christian Eigler scored twice along with Artur Wichniarek, who got his fourth goal of the season.
Bayern Leverkusen enjoyed a 2-0 win over 10-man VfL Bochum after French midfielder Marc Pfertzel was sent off for a second yellow card and Leverkusen's defender Karim Haggui grabbed their first goal at 62 minutes.
Hanover raced into a two-goal lead at Nuremberg when former Germany striker Mike Hanke headed home two first-half goals, but the German Cup holders hit back to force a 2-2 draw as Hanover were reduced to 10 men for the last 10 minutes.
Eintracht Frankfurt stay third after midfielder Alexander Meier scored both goals in their 2-1 home win over Hamburg.
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