Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich came unstuck away to Mainz 05 as they went down 3-1 on Saturday a week after bagging a tenth league crown.
Mainz wasted no time to get stuck in as efforts from Jonathan Burkardt and Moussa Niakhite handed them a two-goal lead in the opening 30 minutes of the match.
The league's top scorer Robert Lewandowski got Bayern a lifeline before halftime, but Leandro Barreiro wiped out the Bavarians chances of a comeback and claimed a crucial victory.
A hat-trick from Erling Braut Haaland wasn't enough to hand Borussia Dortmund against VfL Bochum, who bagged an entertaining 4-3 victory to end their three-match winless run.
Two quick fire efforts from Sebastian Polter and Gerrit Holtmann set Bochum in motion before two penalties minutes apart from Haaland got Dortmund back in the reckoning.
Haaland then managed to find a third following the break, but Jurgen Locadia followed by a spot-kick from Milos Pantovic to give Bochum the points and Dortmund a third consecutive defeat.
VfB Stuttgart needed a late finish to secure a crucial 1-1 draw against Vfl Wolfsburg and keep their fight against the drop alive.
An early finish from John Brooks got the visitors up and running and with victory a certainty, the host snatched a point with the help of a finish from Chris Fuhrich at the death.
Arminia Bielefeld kept their ambitions to beat the drop alive with a last-gasp 1-1 draw against fellow strugglers Hertha Berlin.
A finish in the earlier stages of the second half from Lucas Tousart put the visitors in the lead, but a late strike from Joakim Nilsson rescued Arminia and earned them a vital point.
FC Koln maintained their push for a European spot come the end of the term following a commanding 4-1 victory over FC Augsburg.
Koln were ahead in the opening stages through Jan Thielmann and got a second Mark Uth before Anthony Modeste made it three after the break.
Augsburg did got a lifeline through Florian Niederlechner, but no comeback followed as Modeste bagged his brace to hand the visitors victory.
SC Freiburg maintained their top-four pursuit with a dramatic 4-3 victory over TSG Hoffenheim out at the Rhein-Neckar Arena.
It was a lively start as Roland Sallai got the visitors ahead before Andrej Kramaric pulled Hoffenheim level only for Angel Stiller to put the host ahead and Christian Gunter to level matters.
The scoring spree stopped after Freiburg grabbed two quick efforts within minutes through Lucas Holer and Jeong Woo-yeong.
Hoffenheim attempted a late comeback courtesy of Sebastian Rudy to grab a point, but Freiburg emerged victors in the end.