Magath misery as Wolfsburg defeat Schalke

German champions Wolfsburg ended a run of three straight league defeats on Friday with a 2-1 win at Schalke, the team coached by Felix Magath who led them to the Bundesliga title last season.

Magath’s new team started the match in third place, three points behind leaders Hamburg, but they were outclassed by a Wolfsburg side buoyed by a mid-week Champions League debut win over CSKA Moscow.

Wolfsburg are now up to fifth place.

Their Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko opened the scoring in the 55th minute with a superb header before Turkish international Halil Altintop wasted a chance to equalise in the 70th minute when his effort was saved by Andre Lenz, standing in for the suspended Diego Benaglio in the Wolfsburg goal.

Ten minutes later, Benedikt Howedes did level with a close-range header but Schalke’s joy was shortlived as Dzeko grabbed the winner in the 81st minute.