Cottbus out of bottom three as Bayern stay top

Bayern Munich's French midfielder Franck Ribery applauds after the German first division Bundesliga football match 1. FC Nuernberg vs. Bayern Munich on March 29, at the easyCredit Stadium in the southern German city of Nuremberg. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Energie Cottbus striker Ervin Skela struck twice on Sunday to lift his side off the bottom of the Bundesliga and out of the relegation zone as leaders Bayern Munich remain seven points clear.

Skela's goals sealed a 2-1 win at home to Hertha Berlin to take some of the pressure off Slovenian coach Bojan Prasnikar's side.

"It was not simple for us to get the win because we were under huge pressure," said Prasnikar. "But we did a good job, but it was a tough battle. Now we will see what happens next week, the fight is not over for us."

And on Saturday, Germany striker Lukas Podolski saved Bayern Munich's blushes with a late equaliser at Nuremberg - who drop to the foot of the table after the Cottbus victory - to share the points in a 1-1 draw.

Supersub Podolski capped a memorable week after following up his goal for Germany in midweek by scoring an 81st minute equaliser after again coming off the bench on a crazy Saturday as none of the top five sides won.

Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld later blamed his side's lacklustre performance on a busy week with several members of the squad involved in international friendlies.

"We have to be happy with the point and if you look at the table it was a good day for us, but otherwise it was a tired performance," said Hitzfeld.

Nuremberg midfielder Zvjezdan Misimovic put his side ahead just before half-time before Podolski saved the day to keep Bayern clear at the top.

The biggest shock came as Werder Bremen dropped to fifth as they were humbled 2-1 by relegation-candidates Duisburg.

Schalke 04, who play Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals in Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday, were held 0-0 at Karlsruhe and the valuable point moves them into third.

Bayer Leverkusen were beaten 2-0 when Germany striker Stefan Kiessling scored an own goal to give Eintracht Frankfurt three points before the visitors added a late second.

Things got very strange at second-placed Hamburg who drew 1-1 with Arminia Bielefeld as both sides were left with ten men.

In one of the league's oddest dismissals, Hamburg midfielder David Jarolim was sent off after hitting defender Markus Schuler in the genitals following an altercation.

There was a goal feast at VfL Bochum as they drew 3-3 with fellow mid-table side Borussia Dortmund.

On Friday, an injury-time strike by Wolfsburg's Polish midfielder Jacek Krzynowek gave his side three points in a 1-0 win at strugglers Hansa Rostock.

And on Sunday defending champions Stuttgart stayed sixth after their 0-0 draw at Hanover.