Borussia Dortmund condemned Bayern Munich to a second straight defeat in the Bundesliga, dismantling the champions 3-0 in their own Allianz Arena.
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Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marco Reus and Jonas Hofmann scored the goals as Jurgen Klopp's side all but mathematically secured their place in the Champions League next season.
Bayern's woes were compounded in stoppage time when Rafinha was shown a red card, although the defeat to their rivals from Westphalia was ultimately not so painful with still 17 points between the two sides at the top of the table.
Stuttgart once again conceded in the final stages of a Bundesliga match as Juan Arango levelled late on to nick a 1-1 draw for Borussia Monchengladbach.
The Venezuelan's header looped past Sven Ulreich on 88 minutes after Stuttgart had led from the 12th minute through Daniel Didavi.
The Swabians have failed to turn a winning advantage into a victory more than any other side in the league. If they had held on in those encounters, they could be as high as fourth in the standings.
Wolfsburg came from behind to get the better of relegation-threatened Nurnberg 4-1 and move above Bayer Leverkusen into fourth place.
Markus Feulner gave the visitors the lead, but two goals in three minutes from Ivica Olic and Ivan Perisic turned the game on its head.
As a battling Nurnberg searched for an equaliser, Junior Malanda doubled the home team's advantage midway through the second half before Perisic grabbed his second and Wolfsburg's fourth of a dominant victory.
Mainz boosted their hopes of qualifying for next season's Europa League with a 3-0 win over Werder Bremen -- a result which plunged the visitors right back in the thick of relegation danger.
An own goal from Nils Petersen set Mainz on their way to victory, with further goals from Christoph Moritz and Yunus Malli sealing the points even before the interval.
Bremen rolled up their sleeves and tried to restore some pride in the second half, but were unable to find a way back into the game and were left just six points above the Bundesliga drop zone with four games left.
Should both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich reach the final of the DFB-Pokal next week, seventh place would be worth a place in Europe next term. And that is where Mainz now stand - with a five-point advantage over Augsburg, who are in action on Sunday.
Freiburg picked up a crucial three points in the battle for survival, winning 2-0 at home against Eintracht Braunschweig.
An own goal from Damir Vrancic and one from Julian Schuster moved Christian Streich's side out of the bottom three with some room to breathe over their rivals below.
Didier Ya Konan struck an 86th-minute winner to hand Hannover a huge 2-1 win over relegation rivals Hamburg.
Ya Konan's goal put a dampener on Mirko Slomka's return to Hannover after being sacked from his post 107 days ago.
Slomka's side had levelled through Hakan Calhanoglu's free-kick, which cancelled out Lars Stindl's opener.