Monday 26 December 2016 13:19, UK
Schalke joined Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga while Hannover were held at home to Mainz.
Schalke joined Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga after securing a 1-0 victory at home to Borussia Monchengladbach.
Veteran striker Raul bagged the winning goal just after the hour mark in Gelsenkirchen to secure all three points and move his club onto nine points from the opening four games.
The former Real Madrid striker scored his first goal since committing his future to the club.
Last week, Raul revealed he would see out the final year of his contract after Schalke turned down a bid from English side Blackburn and he celebrated with a strike that moves the Royal Blues level on points with Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen.
Previous leaders Gladbach, who have not won at Schalke since August 1992, lost their first game of the season to drop to fifth place.
Jefferson Farfan's cross was headed on by Kryiakos Papadopoulos and Klaas Jan Huntelaar before Raul's first and second shots from point-blank range were stopped by Marc Andre ter Stegen. But the Gladbach goalkeeper could not stop Raul's third attempt.
Earlier, Hannover missed the chance to leap to the top after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Mainz.
However, the hosts did manage to preserve their unbeaten start to the campaign after coming back from a goal down to secure a valuable point at the AWD-Arena.
Sami Allagui stunned the home faithful with the opening goal of the game early in the second half but Mohammed Abdellaoue met Konstantin Rausch's perfect cross from the left to restore parity on the hour mark.
The home side looked tired following their Europa League playoff triumph against favourites Sevilla on Thursday night.
Hannover created chances after equalising but Christian Schulz flashed his shot wide before Rausch hit the crossbar.
But the best chance fell to the visitors when Allagui failed to convert Marcel Risse's cross from close range.
