Huntelaar makes up for PK miss, carries Schalke past Mainz
Schalke moved up to fifth in the Bundesliga standings thanks to a 2-1 win over Mainz which could have been more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar saw an early penalty saved by Loris Karius and the Dutchman missed an almost open goal as Schalke piled on the pressure.
Karius was keeping Mainz in the game - the pick of his saves a fine reflex stop to prevent Niko Bungert from scoring an own goal - but Joel Matip finally broke the deadlock with a header from former Mainz defender Johannes Geis' corner.
Yunus Malli levelled for Mainz after Christian Clemens' shot came back off the post, but Huntelaar made up for his earlier errors to score Schalke's winner, even though a fine one-handed save from Ralf Fahrmann was required to preserve the points in the last
Earlier in the day, Claudio Pizarro came on with eight minutes remaining and played a pivotal role in Werder Bremen's 3-1 victory at Hoffenheim in his third debut for the club on Sunday.
With the score tied at 1-1, Pizarro set up Anthony Ujah to give Bremen the lead in injury time before Zlatko Junuzovic completed the scoring with his second goal.
Junuzovic opened the scoring just before the break only for halftime substitute Eduardo Vargas to equalize four minutes after coming on. It was the Chile midfielder's first Bundesliga goal.
Pizarro, who rejoined Bremen for his third stint after fulfilling his contract with Bayern Munich, came on in the 82nd and eluded two defenders to set up Ujah for the decisive goal in injury time.
