Gelsenkirchen (Germany), Mar 19 (IANS): Leon Goretzka's late winner moved Schalke 2-1 past Borussia Monchengladbach at the opener of the 27th round in the Bundesliga football league.

Schalke on Friday benefited on an own goal, and poor chance conversion by Monchengladbach, who lost their fourth place in the standings to the "Royal Blues", reports Xinhua.

Monchengladbach took the reins from the kick-off while Schalke were unable to gain a foothold into the game. Nevertheless, the visitors failed to turn their dominance into goals as Thorgan Hazard, Raffael and Fabian Johnson wasted promising opportunities.

Schalke's goalkeeper had a lot to do in the first half, including making a crucial save against Monchengladbach's Lars Stindl, who unleashed a shot from close range before the break.

Despite a dominant first-half performance by the visitors, it were hapless Schalke who opened the scoring against the run of the game after Martin Hinteregger deflected Leroy Sane's effort into his own goal with 59 minutes played.

The "Foals" were shocked but responded with the equaliser at the 75th minute as Andreas Christensen completed a combination via Stindl from inside the box at the Veltins-Arena.

However, just when Monchengladbach were on the verge to turn things around, Schalke flabbergasted the visitors with the 2-1 winner four minutes later, when Goretzka's deflected shot found the back of the net.

With the result, Schalke increase their chances for a UEFA Champions League berth, as the fifth placed "Royal Blues" oust fourth placed Monchengladbach from their position.

"We played a good game, dominated Schalke, but we gave away two cheap goals," Monchengladbach coach Andre Schubert said.

Schalke coach Andre Breitenreiter said: "We are the lucky winners today but our goalkeeper Ralf Faehrmann has large shares on this win as he staged a faultless performance."