Leverkusen win to delay Dortmund title party

Second-placed Bayer Leverkusen edged past Hoffenheim 2-1 on Saturday, delaying any Borussia Dortmund title celebrations by at least a week as they cut the lead back to five points with three games to play.

Bundesliga leaders Dortmund can re-establish their eight-point gap over Leverkusen with a win at bottom-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach later on Saturday but that will not be enough to give them their seventh German title this weekend.

Leverkusen, aware that a draw or defeat would kill their own faint title hopes, recovered from a goal down when left-back Michal Kadlec drilled in a header just before the break to cancel out Gylfi Sigurdsson's 28th minute strike.

A defensive blunder by Ryan Babel in the 51st minute allowed Leverkusen's Arturo Vidal to chip to Stefan Kiessling, the striker chesting it down for the Chilean, who had no trouble firing the hosts into the lead from inside the box.

Fourth-placed Bayern Munich needed an 89th minute penalty by top scorer Mario Gomez to rescue a 1-1 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt and move a point behind third-placed Hanover 96, who are on 57.

The two teams are locked in a battle for a Champions League qualification spot.

Frankfurt had taken the lead early in the second half through a Sebastian Rode shot and missed a golden chance from five metres with Fanis Gekas before Gomez netted his 23rd league goal of the season, converting the penalty just before the end to snatch a point for the reigning champions.

Champions League semifinalists Schalke 04 failed to build some confidence ahead of their first leg against Manchester United next week, slumping to a 1-0 home defeat against Kaiserslautern, who moved up to 12th on 37 points.

Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart also took major step towards staying up with wins over St Pauli and Hamburg respectively.

Hanover beat Freiburg 3-1 on Thursday.