Bayern held to 1-1 draw at Cologne; Schalke wins

Mar 6, 2010 - 5:44 PM FRANKFURT(AP) -- Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich was held to a 1-1 draw at Cologne on Saturday, allowing Schalke to pull within two points with a 4-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Former Bayern striker Lucas Podolski scored his first goal since September to give Cologne the lead after 32 minutes, before Bastian Schweinsteiger equalized to salvage a point for the visitors.

"We gave up two points in the first half," said Bayern goalkeeper Jorg Butt, who badly misjudged Poldolski's shot for the first goal. "We didn't have many chances in the first half and gave up a lot of chances. When you fall behind 1-0 it's tough to come back."

Bayern improved to 53 points from 25 rounds while Schalke moved to 51 points with its dominant victory at Eintracht.

Schweinsteiger said Bayern were done in by their own mistakes.

"We were first and wanted to take home three points," he said. "We knew that Cologne wanted to destroy our game with their defense. And they did. But with our quality we should have won this game. But we just couldn't get things done today."

Bayer Leverkusen have 50 points and can take the lead with a win at Nurnberg on Sunday.

Schalke grabbed a 2-0 lead after just 15 minutes and scored two goals in the final 10 minutes. Still, Schalke coach Felix Magath refused to include his club among the contenders for the Bundesliga title.

"We still have a long way to go," Magath said. "We saw again leading 2-1 that we were uncertain of ourselves. In the next few weeks we will be playing better opponents and we have to play a bit better."

Fourth-place Hamburg beat Hertha Berlin 1-0 thanks to Marcell Jansen's goal late in the first half. Werder Bremen erased a two-goal deficit at home against Stuttgart for a 2-2 draw sit in fifth place with 39 points.

Edin Dzeko scored two goals as Wolfsburg earned a 4-1 home victory over Bochum, and Hannover grabbed a critical 2-1 victory at fellow relegation candidate Freiburg.

Borussia Dortmund hosted Borussia Moenchengladbach later Saturday.