Schalke lose ground on Bayern after draw at Wolfsburg

Jacek Krzynowek put the home side in front nine minutes before break with a superb free kick but Wolfsburg's cause was made all the more difficult on 51 minutes when Josue was controversially sent off for a second bookable offence.

  Schalke poured forward in search of an equalizer and missed a host of chances before Halil Altintop finally levelled matters four minutes from time.

 "You have to be pleased with a draw against Schalke," said Krzynowek while Schalke coach Mirko Slomka had mixed feelings about the result.

 "When you get an equalizer so late in the game, you really should be happy but I amn't in the slightest," said Slomka. "We dominated the game but lacked directness in front of goal."

   In Sunday's other match, Hansa Rostock remain bottom without a point after losing 1-0 to Eintracht Frankfurt.

 Alexander Meier got the only goal of the game for Frankfurt on three minutes after the Rostock defence failed to clear.

 Bayern Munich sit top on a maximum nine points from three matches thanks to a comfortable 3-0 home win over Hanover 96 Saturday while defending champions VfB Stuttgart got their first victory of the new campaign, a 1-0 win against newly- promoted MSV Duisburg.

 Arminia Bielefeld, 2-0 winners at home to Hertha Berlin, VfL Bochum, who beat SV Hamburg 2-1 in the Friday night game, and Frankfurt sit second on seven points, followed by Hamburg on six and Schalke on five.

 In other Saturday action, Borussia Dortmund secured their first points of the new Bundesliga campaign thanks to a 3-0 win over Energie Cottbus.

 Werder Bremen got their first win of the season, winning 1-0 at German Cup winners Nuremberg while Bayer Leverkusen beat SC Karlsruhe 3-0 in the day's other match.

DPA