Bayer Leverkusen won Saturday's heavyweight clash with Schalke 04 to stay top of the pile, while the Royal Blues dropped further off the pace at the top.
Bayer's 2-1 (2-0) victory made it six wins in seven games for them. For Schalke, it was the second big-game loss in a week having gone down at home to Bayern München by the same score last time out.
One apiece for strike partners
Stefan Kießling (30.) and Patrick Helmes (41.) gave Leverkusen a decisive half-time advantage, with Kevin Kuranyi's consolation strike five minutes from time proving too little, too late for Schalke.
The home side had Gonzalo Castro sent off in the 67th minute after he picked up a second yellow card for a foul, but they held on comfortably enough in the end.
Early chance
Schalke squandered a golden opportunity to go in front early on, Kuranyi firing wide when free in the box in the 19th minute.
That incident aside, each team for the most part neutralised the other almost completely in the opening stages. The half-chances that were created did however tend to come Schalke's way.
Playmaker does the business
That was before Renato Augusto took over, skipping past Levan Kobiashvili down the right to put in Kießling for his sixth goal of the season. Ahead against the run of play, Leverkusen doubled their advantage shortly before the interval, with Helmes quickest on the follow-up to a fumbled Renato Augusto shot, to bag his own tenth of the campaign.
Schalke coach Fred Rutten brough on three fresh pairs of legs early in the second half in Christian Pander (46.), Benedikt Höwedes (52.) and Gerald Asamoah (66.).
But a lone chance for Heiko Westermann (74.) aside, there was not much happening up front for the Royal Blues now. At the other end, sub Sascha Dum (76.) passed up the chance to make it 3-0 for Bayer.
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