Bayern Munich bounced back from their shock defeat last weekend with a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen which stretched their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to seven points.
Luca Toni struck in the 17th and 59th minutes before Leverkusen made things interesting with a goal in the 83rd through Dmitriy Bulykin.
Leverkusen could have put themselves second and within three points of their hosts with a win - as it is they remain third.
Second-placed Hamburg also conceded ground on the leaders as they could only draw 1-1 at Wolfsburg in a game in which both teams finished with nine men.
Things looked good when Bastian Reinhardt put them ahead after 14 minutes, but Danijel Ljuboja's deflected shot levelled things up six minutes after the break.
Thereafter referee Thorsten Kinhofer took centre stage, producing four red cards in the final 11 minutes.
Wolfsburg's Alexander Madlung was first to go for a second bookable offence, before Hamburg substitute Vincent Kompany collected two yellow cards within six minutes of entering the field to join him.
Wolfsburg's Grafite and Hamburg defender Joris Mathijsen kicked out at each other in stoppage time to round off the dismissals.
Reigning champions Stuttgart continued to work their way up the Bundesliga table with a 4-1 victory against Hansa Rostock.
Pavel Pardo and Cacua gave Stuttgart a 2-0 lead inside two minutes midway through the second period but Mario Gomez headed an own goal soon after to cut the deficit.
Gomez made amends by scoring in the 87th minute and Yildiray Basturk wrapped up the win in injury time.
It was Stuttgart's fifth victory in the last six games and they move up to sixth place.
Nurnberg's nightmare second half of the Bundesliga season continued as they remained in the relegation zone following a 1-1 draw at home against Bochum.
Stanislav Sestak put Bochum ahead in the fifth minute and Zvjezdan Misimovic equalised three minutes later.
Borussia Dortmund and Karlsruhe drew 1-1 with goals from Mladen Petric (24) and Sebastian Freis (63) respectively, while the day's other game - between Duisburg and Hannover - also finished 1-1.
Hannover played a man light for 86 minutes after forward Mike Hanke was sent off for throwing an elbow at Iulian Filipescu in the opening exchanges, but still took the lead through Jiri Stajner in the 42nd minute.
Michael Lamey equalised with a stunning goal in the 79th minute.
Eintracht Frankfurt beat Cottbus 2-1 on Thursday night.
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