Schalke 04’s star striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will miss next week’s

Bundesliga clash at leaders Bayern Munich after being sent off in

Saturday’s 1-0 league win over Hanover 96.

‘The Hunter’, who has claimed seven league goals this season, was

shown a straight red for hacking down Hanover’s Manuel Schmiedebach five

minutes from time.

The Dutch international has netted 66 goals in 117 league games at

Schalke, but is now suspended for what already looked a difficult league

clash at Bayern’s Allianz Arena on Tuesday.

“The red card against Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has hurt us,” admitted Schalke coach Roberto Di Matteo.

“It was a foul and the referee was in a good position.

“Klaas-Jan was trying to win the ball, but didn’t succeed and, of course, it’s a pity he will be missing now.”

The Royal Blues went ahead at the Veltins Arena when midfielder Marco

Hoeger slotted his shot past Hanover’s Germany goalkeeper Ron-Robert

Zieler with 32 minutes gone.

The win lifted Di Matteo’s Schalke, who face holders Real Madrid in

the last 16 of the Champions League next month, up to fourth in the

table.

Pep Guardiola’s Bayern had their lead cut to eight points on Friday

when they suffered a shock 4-1 hammering at second-placed VfL Wolfsburg

as the Bundesliga resumed after the winter break.

Borussia Moenchengladbach went third in the league on Saturday after

Patrick Herrmann netted their second-half goal in a 1-0 win over VfB

Stuttgart, who dropped to second from bottom.

Herrmann drilled home Branimir Hrgota’s swirling cross 20 minutes

from time to move Lucien Favre’s side up behind leaders Bayern and VfL

Wolfsburg.

With Borussia Dortmund at Bayer Leverkusen later on Saturday,

Freiburg sent Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund to the bottom of the table with a

4-1 comeback win at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Ex-Bayern Munich striker Nils Petersen came off the bench to claim a

second-half hat-trick on his debut, having joined from Werder Bremen at

the end of December.

Freiburg picked up their first win since November, which catapulted them up from last place to 13th in the table.

Cologne pulled away from the relegation zone and up to tenth with a

2-0 win at strugglers Hamburg, who drop to 15th and just above the

bottom three.

Cologne picked up their fifth away win, to match Bayern’s tally on

the road as midfielder Marcel Risse scored both second-half goals.

He fired his first through the legs of Hamburg goalkeeper Jaroslav

Drobny before burying a final pass from Nigeria’s Anthony Ujah 12

minutes from time.

Mid-table Mainz romped to a 5-0 win over Paderborn as midfielder Yunus Malli scored twice and set up their third.