Schalke 04 have missed out on the chance to close the gap on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich after slipping to a 3-0 defeat against FC Koln this afternoon.

Yannick Gerhardt came close for the visitors early on with a strike from the edge of the box that went just wide of the post.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar then saw his close-range effort blocked, before Leroy Sane's strike was kept out by Timo Horn.

Both teams continued to create chances with Anthony Modeste seeing two attempts saved, and Huntelaar heading narrowly wide of the target.

On the stroke of half time Koln made the breakthrough as Modeste raced onto Leonardo Bittencourt's pass, before drilling a low strike through the legs of Ralf Fahrmann and into the net.

After the break Johannes Geis almost grabbed an equaliser for the hosts, but his free kick was turned behind by Horn.

However, in the 79th minute Koln doubled their lead as Gerhardt turned his marked inside the box and drilled a low strike into the bottom corner.

Koln made sure of the points five minutes later with their third of the match when Simon Zoller was played through on goal by Kevin Vogt, before sliding a composed effort past Horn.