Borussia Dortmund maintained their three-point lead ahead of Bayern Munich atop the Bundesliga after a 3-1 win at Wolfsburg on Saturday.
Polish forward Robert Lewandowski had the first chance of the match but he fired wide with only Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio to beat after just nine minutes.
Lewandowski made up for his earlier miss though, as he gave the visitors the lead after 21 minutes.
Mandzukic scuffed a shot straight at Dortmund shot-stopper Roman Weidenfeller early in the second half and they were made to pay for their miss as Jakub Blaszczykowski did well to supply Ilkay Gundogan, who beat Benaglio to extend the visitors' lead.
And the numerical advantage told as substitute Moritz Leitner played in Lewandowski, who finished emphatically as Dortmund sealed an important victory.
Bayern kept the pressure on the leaders though as they won their ninth match in a row in all competitions thanks to a 2-1 home success against Augsburg.
Mario Gomez opened the scoring after just 24 seconds, tapping in after his initial volley was saved, and although Koo Ja-Cheol equalised midway through the first half from close range, Bayern sealed the win when Gomez grabbed his second on the hour mark.
Stuttgart kept up their scoring form with a 4-1 win over Mainz, with Bosnian Vedad Ibisevic bagging a double, while Daniel Caligiuri and Cedric Makiadi scored in the second half as Freiburg came from behind to draw 2-2 with Nurenberg.
Bottom-placed Kaiserslautern lost 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim, Cologne and Werder Bremen played out a 1-1 draw while Borussia Moenchengladbach and Hertha Berlin could not be separated in a goalless stalemate.
Schalke extended their unbeaten streak in the Bundesliga to five matches thanks to a 3-0 home win over Hannover on Sunday.
Schalke, who sit third on the league table, took the lead after just six minutes when Spanish veteran Raul converted Jefferson Farfan's assist.
Farfan was a constant nuisance and although Schalke led by just one goal at the break, the Peruvian set up Raul for another strike just two minutes into the second half.
The match was as good as over just after the hour-mark when Farfan again laid on an assist, with Dutch forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar this time the beneficiary.
Sunday's other match saw Bayer Leverkusen caretaker boss Sami Hyypia end his side's run of five consecutive defeats as they drew 1-1 at Hamburg.
Robin Dutt lost his job in charge of the BayArena outfit due to a horrendous run of form and it was a familiar feeling for the Leverkusen players when they entered the half-time break behind after Mladen Petric's 40th-minute penalty.
But Hyypia's men dug deep and Andre Schuerrle ensured both sides would share the spoils with his equaliser 15 minutes later.
