Borussia Dortmund bounced back from their mid-week Champions League exit with a 3-2 Bundesliga victory over 10-man Hanover on Saturday to earn their first win in four games.
On Sunday, runaway leaders Bayern Munich will be looking to add to their 11-point lead when they host fourth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach while second-placed Wolfsburg are at mid-table Mainz.
Dortmund bounced back from their 3-0 defeat at home to Juventus on Wednesday, which sealed a 5-1 aggregate defeat in the last 16, and goalless against Hamburg and Cologne as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted twice.
"We started well, but completely gave away the equaliser," said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp, whose side are now five points from the European berths.
"We did really well after the second yellow card and anyone who looks at the table sees how important the win was."
Dortmund took the lead in Hanover after Germany winger Marco Reus's no-look pass allowed Aubameyang to bury his shot in the 19th minute.
The lead lasted just 12 minutes as ex-Dortmund midfielder Leonardo Bittencourt stole possession on the halfway line, sprinted to the edge of the area and fed Lars Stindl whose weak shot beat the Borussia defence.
Dortmund captain Mats Hummels headed off the line early in the second half from Spanish striker Joselu just before the hosts were reduced to ten men.
Bittencourt was sent off on 55 minutes for a foul on Dortmund veteran Sebastian Kehl just six minutes after fouling Jakub Blaszczykowski.
Dortmund made the numerical advantage count almost immediately as Reus again provided the final pass for Japan midfielder Shinji Kagawa to score their second on 57 minutes for his first league goal since September.
Kagawa then set up Aubameyang for his second goal with a cross which saw the Gabon forward head home on 61 minutes.
- Relegation battle -
Hanover set up a nervous last ten minutes when Stindl beat Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller to make it 3-2 with 82 minutes gone, but the win leaves Borussia tenth with Hanover 14th, but two points from relegation.
"We're now in the relegation battle," said Hanover coach Tayfun Korkat.
"I have a huge responsibility, but I still feel the confidence in me."
Bayer Leverkusen bounced back from their Champions League exit at Atletico Madrid on Tuesday with a 1-0 win at Schalke 04 thanks to Karim Bellarabi's first-half winner which moved his side up to third leaving Schalke fifth.
Bayer's Germany winger Bellarabi, who has been linked to Arsenal, grabbed the 35th-minute winner from the tightest of angles with a superb shot across goal.
Bremen stay ninth after being held to a 1-1 draw at mid-table Cologne as a first-half goal by Germany Under-19 striker Davie Selke for the visitors was cancelled out by an 88th-minute penalty from Cologne midfielder Matthias Lehmann.
Freiburg climbed out of the bottom three with a 2-0 win at home to Augsburg thanks to second-half goals from Jonathan Schmid and Nils Petersen.
Paderborn stay second-from-bottom after their goalless draw at home to ten-man Hoffenheim, who had Bosnia defender Ermin Bicakcic sent off for a second yellow card.
VfB Stuttgart remain rooted to the foot of the table despite their 3-1 comeback win at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.
After Frankfurt midfielder Haris Seferovic gave his side a second-half lead Stuttgart striker Daniel Ginczek cancelled out the advantage by scoring twice in as many minutes.
Romania midfielder Alexandru Maxim then added Stuttgart's third to seal their first home win since September.
The result means just two points separate the bottom four teams of Stuttgart, Freiburg, Paderborn and Hamburg in Germany's top flight.
Source: AFP