BERLIN: Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday joined Borussia Dortmund as the biggest losers of the weekend in watching Bayern Munich extend their lead on top of the Bundesliga.
Szabolcs Hustzi converted two penalties as Hanover beat Leverkusen 3-2 at home in a result which, combined with Dortmund's 3-2 loss Saturday at home against Wolfsburg, leaves Bayern as the biggest winners.
Bayern beat Augsburg 2-0 at home to move to 41 points to increase their lead to 11 points over Leverkusen and 14 points ahead of defending champions Dortmund.
Leverkusen went ahead after two minutes through Gonzalo Castro but watched Huszti equalise from the spot in the 20th minute and Mame Biram Diouf's header gave the hosts a 2-1 lead in the 57th minute.
Stefan Kiessling made it 2-2 after 58 minutes but the Hungarian Huszti converted another penalty in the 69th minute to give Hanover victory.
"It's not the end of the world," said Kiessling. "We were not good enough in the decisive situations."
Borussia Moenchgladbach clinched a 2-0 victory at home over Mainz.
Mike Hanke scored in the 58th minute and Juan Arango added a sensational second in the 63rd minute for Gladbach, who are now eighth after just their second win in the last five games.
Mainz missed a chance to pull into fifth place.
On Saturday, Bayern Munich moved a step closer to the Bundesliga title with Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez scoring in the 2-0 win at Augsburg.
Bayern dominated the proceedings and finally grabbed the lead in the 40th minute from the spot through Mueller after Augsburg's Gibril Sankoh handled Toni Kroos' pass.
Gomez doubled the advantage in the 62nd minute, just two minutes after coming into the game to decide the contest.
"In order to win the championship, we have to win these kinds of games, and we did that," said Gomez.
In Dortmund, Juergen Klopp's hosts went ahead on a free kick by Marco Reus in the sixth minute.
Wolfsburg equalised in the 36th minute from the spot through Diego one minute after Marcel Schmelzer was red-carded for stopping Bas Dost's shot at the line with his hand -- though replays showed the defender blocked the ball with his knee.
Referee Wolfgang Stark admitted later that upon reviewing television replays he had made an error in ruling a handball.
Wolfsburg took the lead 2-1 in the 41st as Naldo volleyed home Diego's pass.
Jakub Blaszczykowski converted a penalty in the 61st minute as Dortmund pulled even at 2-2 but Dost re-established Wolfsburg's lead in the 73rd minute.
"I am satisfied with our performance but the result hurts us a lot," said Klopp.
"It decided the game because we had to play the final 54 minutes a man down. Still we had more ball possession and still felt we could win. But it was difficult to maintain the high energy level."
Eintracht Frankfurt scored twice within a minute to snap a three-game winless streak with a 4-1 victory at home over Werder Bremen.
Alex Meier made it 1-0 in the 47th minute for Frankfurt and Nils Petersen equalised seven minutes later.
But Pirmin Schwegler and Stefan Aigner both scored for Frankfurt and Takashi Inui added the final goal in the 90th minute.
Schalke failed to win their fifth straight match and saw Frankfurt pass them in the table and drop further behind the leaders with a 3-1 loss at VfB Stuttgart thanks to Vedad Ibisevic's hat-trick.
Both teams finished with 10 men as Gotoku Sakai of Stuttgart and Schalke's Jermaine Jones were sent off.
On Friday, Artjoms Rednevs scored two goals in Hamburg's 2-0 victory at home over Hoffenheim, who lost in their first game under interim coach Frank Kramer.
-AFP/ac
Football: Leverkusen slump leaves Bayern 11 points clear
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Football: Leverkusen slump leaves Bayern 11 points clear
