Schalke Bounce Back, Bayer Leverkusen Lose

[Folami David]

Schalke 04 carried some of their Champions League momentum into the Bundesliga on Sunday, beating Freiburg 2-0 to bounce back after a string of erratic results.
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Nicolas Hoefler stabbed the ball into his own net on the stroke of halftime to put the hosts into a lucky lead and Jefferson Farfan converted a penalty to lift Schalke to sixth place with 27 points.
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Second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, who also advanced to the Champions League round of 16, slumped to a 1-0 home defeat by lowly Eintracht Frankfurt in the other game on Sunday to end their four-match winning streak.
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Marco Russ headed in on the hour and despite Joselu's saved stoppage-time penalty, Frankfurt ended their run of 10 games without a win to leave Leverkusen on 37 points, seven behind leaders Bayern Munich, who beat Hamburg Sv 3-1 on Saturday.
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With only one win in their previous three league games, Schalke coach Jens Keller had been under pressure but got a welcome boost in midweek when they beat Basle to advance in the Champions League.
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Sunday's win may have lacked the shine and aggression of their European performance but certainly further improved his chances of staying on past the winter break.
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Keller can also again count on central defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos, who made a brief substitute appearance after more than a year out with a knee injury.
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Freiburg, who got off to a better start before conceding the first goal against the run of play, were furious with what they considered a harsh penalty decision for a tumble in the box by Schalke's Max Meyer.
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Freiburg, who have now failed to score in their last four games, remained 16th and in the relegation playoff spot.

[Shola Sholaz]

Good one for Schalke. I wasn't expecting them to do half of what they did in that game. Bad loss for Bayer Leverkusen