German defending champions Bayern Munich suffered a severe setback on Saturday as they were snubbed 0-1 by Schalke 04 at home.
Turkish international Halil Altintop scored the only goal of the game in the 21st minute to give Schalke their fourth successive clean-sheet victory under interim coach Mike Bueskens, and their first win at Bayern since October 2004.
The result means Wolfsburg have the chance to stretch their lead at the top to six points with a win at Cottbus on Sunday.
To make matters worse for Bayern, midfield star Franck Ribery was sent off in the 76th minute after picking up a second yellow card, and will miss next Saturday's home game with Borussia Monchengladbach.
Six minutes beforehand, Schalke's Jermaine Jones had suffered the same fate, also for a second booking.
Bayern played on high pace for the first 5 minutes at least, but were unable to succeed by a score. After 10 minutes Schalke started to warm up and to be present on the field. Then in the 21st minute Altintop took the lead by a header from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal.
The second half started similar to first half. Bayern ran heavily for a score meanwhile Schalke were running behind.
"That's a very bitter defeat, because we went into the match with high hopes," said Bayern coach Juergen Klinsmann.
"But there are still five games to go... we'll take as many points as we can from our remaining games," he added.
"We now have to take every match as it comes and win our last five matches, because we want to finish at least second and qualify directly for the Champions League," Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2009)
