Bayern Munich shrugged off the absence of flu-victim Jupp Heynckes to record a 2-1 win over Schalke and re-establish their 18-point lead at the top of the German Bundesliga.
RB Leipzig closed the huge gap with a 2-0 win over Augsburg on Friday but goals from Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller gave Bayern the home win and no doubt cheered the 72-year-old Heynckes as he recovered at home.
Michy Batshuayi earlier netted his third goal in two matches and Marco Reus returned from an eight-month injury lay-off to help Borussia Dortmund beat Hamburg 2-0.
Dortmund leapt up to third after Bayer Leverkusen, who had lost only once in their previous 16 games, surprisingly went down 2-0 at home to Hertha Berlin to slip to fifth.
Eintracht Frankfurt are fourth after a 4-2 home win over bottom side Cologne while Hoffenheim overcame Mainz 4-2 and Hanover beat Freiburg 2-1.
Bayern took just six minutes for Lewandowski to score after Ralf Faehrmann could only parry Mueller's fierce shot from distance.
The Poland striker matched Heynckes' record of scoring in each of Borussia Monchengladbach's first 11 home fixtures during the 1972-73 league season.
Schalke were always a threat and Leon Goretzka, who will leave the Royal Blues for Bayern in July, charged up field and the ball eventually fell for Franco Di Santo to sweep home the leveller.
Bayern, led by assistant coach Peter Hermann, simply upped the pace though and Mueller scored from a tight angle 10 minutes from the break.
"I really enjoy playing with these guys," Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich, deputising for the injured Manuel Neuer, told Sky..
After being out since tearing knee ligaments in last May's German Cup final, injury-prone Reus went straight into the Dortmund starting line-up but it was fellow forward Batshuayi who again stole the headlines.
The deadline-day loan signing from Chelsea scored twice on debut and again made Dortmund fans quickly forget the departed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang by tapping in the 49th minute opener against second-bottom Hamburg.
Substitute Mario Goetze - who replaced Reus on 71 minutes - bravely bagged a second in stoppage time after being set up by Andre Schuerrle.
It was Dortmund's 500th home win in the Bundesliga.
"Best present I could have for the man today was to score and help us get the three points. Welcome back," Batshuayi Tweeted about Reus after the game.
Valentino Lazaro calmly netted his first Bundesliga goal to hand inconsistent Hertha a shock lead at Leverkusen and Salomon Kalou added another after the break.
"You could tell we were lacking a bit of freshness," Leverkusen coach Heiko Herrlich said.
