Uli Hesse in Germany

And just like that a title race that had been blown wide open only a few weeks ago looks almost slammed shut. Over the past weekend, no less than three of the top four suffered unexpected defeats away from home while table-topping Borussia Dortmund beat FSV Mainz 2-1, despite Mohamed Zidan (whom we featured last week) extending his spooky streak by scoring his fifth goal in as many games since rejoining Mainz. Title-holders Dortmund have thus managed to put considerable daylight between themselves and the pack. They now lead Bayern Munich by seven points, having trailed them by three as late as January, and Borussia Monchengladbach by eight. As we already pointed out last week, Schalke 04 are for all practical purposes out of the race for good, eleven points behind Dortmund.