The Allianz Arena was the venue for a key relegation battle on Friday evening, as Aalen and 1860 Munich played out an entertaining draw. The first-half was hard-fought and neither goalkeeper was overly busy. Collin Quaner gave the visitors a deserved lead on the hour mark with a back post tap-in. Rodri finally sparked a lifeless 1860 into gear with an equaliser, though neither side could find that vital winning goal.
1860 took a massive three points in a local clash with SpVgg Greuther Fürth last Friday, picking up a convincing three-nil win. Torsten Fröhling would surely have gone for an unchanged eleven, but he had to make two changes. Kai Bülow and Gary Kagelmacher, sick and injured respectively, were replaced by Martin Angha and Guillermo Vallori.
Stefan Ruthenbeck's men recorded a similar victory, defeating relegation rivals Erzgebirge Aue with a three-nil scoreline. There was also a forced alteration for Aalen, as Dominik Drexler (injured against Aue) had to drop out and Andreas Ludwig took his place.
The opening minutes were nervy and tense, what one would imagine in a relegation dogfight. Though a terrible pass out from the back by the usually solid Vitus Eicher went straight to Andreas Hofmann, but he fired over the bar and the chance went beginning; he could hardly believed he passed up such a great opportunity.
Apart from Hofmann's shot flying over, it was a game dominated by the defences. The attacking forces that had put on such impressive displays a week prior looked rather tame, despite Aalen's willingness to try and net an opening goal. Two-goal hero Korbinian Vollmann looked like he'd put the hosts ahead, though a poor touch meant Daniel Bernhardt wasn't forced into any meaningful action.
Eicher then collided, accidentally, with Collin Quaner and needed some attention from the physios after a blow to the head. Veteran defender Oliver Barth also needed some treatment, but both were able to continue after a small break.
Aalen were creeping closer to an opener and Vallori was forced into a last-ditch clearance to prevent Ludwig's from handing Quaner a simple tap in. Bernhardt, who is the definition of consistency for the visitors, then made a fantastic one-one-one save from Vollmann to keep the scores level.
Despite the late flurry of action, the first half ended goalless and the tension would grow over the break and into the following forty-five minutes. There were two substitutions at half-time, which saw the injured parties replaced. Stefan Ortega came on for Eicher, while Sascha Mockenhaupt took Barth's place.
Jurgen Gjasula provided two assists in the win last weekend but when it came to taking his own chances, he blazed a great opportunity over Ortega's bar. The returning Rodri was not long onto the pitch before his opposite number, Collin Quaner, sent Aalen one-nil up.
A great ball across goal from Fabio Kaufmann found Quaner lurking at the back post and he made absolutely no mistake to net an easy tap in. It was his third in as many games and an even more important goal for his team.
Fröhling reacted almost immediately and knowing the importance of the game, he brought on attacker Marius Wolf for Angha. That marked the beginning of an 1860 siege and though they initially struggled to break down the visitors' resilient back-line, Rodri found a way through.
The Spaniard was the beneficiary of a quick free-kick on the wing, which eventually made its way to Vollmann. He crossed over to the back post and Rodri beat both Bernhardt and the by-line to the ball, scoring a header from an acute angle and his first in an 1860 shirt.
Neither side could find a late winner in spite of their late efforts, as the gap between the two remained at two points. They both pulled a point clear of St. Pauli after their loss to Union Berlin, with 1860 facing bottom club Aue and Aalen hosting promotion chasing Karlsruhe next weekend.