( CNN ) -- With Germany 's title race set to resume in earnest on Sunday , Bayer Leverkusen took center stage in Saturday 's Bundesliga action by claiming fifth place with a 2-0 win at struggling Cologne . Midfielder Lars Bender scored both goals to give Leverkusen successive victories for the first time since August and a one-point advantage over Werder Bremen , who crashed 1-0 at Nuremberg in the late kickoff . But it still left Leverkusen seven points adrift of Schalke , who travel to third-placed Bayern Munich on Sunday . Champions Borussia Dortmund , meanwhile , can stretch their two-point lead with victory at home to Hanover following second-placed Borussia Monchengladbach 's home draw with Hamburg on Friday . It could be a pivotal round of matches , with five points separating the top four teams . Nuremberg climbed eight points clear of the relegation zone as Alexander Esswein 's 65th-minute goal gave the visitors a second win in the last 10 meetings with the 2004 league champions . Bremen hold a two-point advantage over Hanover in the race for the final Europa League qualification spot , with Stuttgart a further five points back despite the 4-1 win over bottom side Freiburg in which Martin Harnik scored twice . Hoffenheim stayed behind their south-west rivals on goal difference after winning 2-1 at Wolfsburg , who dropped behind Hamburg and Mainz -- 4-0 victors over second-bottom Kaiserslautern . Cologne are four points above the relegation playoffs after a sixth defeat in seven , while Augsberg moved out of the bottom three with a 3-0 win over fellow strugglers Hertha Berlin thanks to two second-half goals from striker Torsten Oehrl .
Bayer Leverkusen move up to fifth place in Bundesliga with a 1 -0 win over Cologne . Hertha Berlin drop to sixth after being beaten four -0 by Nuremberg in late match . 1 of the German league 's top four teams will play on Friday .