Points were shared in the Rhein Derby as Julian Brandt's goal for Bayer Leverkusen was cancelled out by a late equaliser from 1.FC Köln substitute, Bard Finne.

Timo Horn’s heroics saved Deniz Aytekin's blushes moments before half time after the referee wrongly awarded a penalty to Leverkusen after Stefan Kießling was brought down.

Ever-present Horn dived low to deny Hakan Çalhanoğlu from the spot as the 21-year old goalkeeper continued to impress his employers.

Marcel Risse came close on a number of occasions but it was Brandt who gave the visitors the lead after coming on as a substitute – the third of his season.

Kießling came close to doubling Leverkusen’s lead but it was Anthony Ujah who should have scored an equaliser for Köln, after the Nigerian headed his free header wide of the right post.

The result means Leverkusen are now clear of fourth placed Borussia Mönchengladbach by just one point, as they face VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday evening. Köln can’t count themselves safe just yet, as they remain seven points above the relegation playoffs.

Roger Schmidt was full of praise for Köln in the lead up to the game, he told reporters: “With Köln you never felt they were seriously in danger of going down. That is very important. They look very solid and consistently pick up points.”

Yannick Gerhardt returned to the starting lineup on Saturday afternoon marking his returning from injury whilst Risse also started after missing the game against Hertha Berlin. Gonzalo Castro has been ruled out for the season, and so captain Simon Rolfes returns to the starting XI for Leverkusen, whilst Brandt drops to the bench in place of 11-goal Karim Bellarabi.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos forced the first save from Horn. The Leverkusen defender did everything right, heading the ball down, but the on form German made the save with ease.

Çalhanoğlu then forced Horn into making another save just moments later from distance, as the Turkish international went in search for his seventh league goal of the season.

Rolfes was shown a yellow card after just 16 minutes with the German brought down Miso Brecko just outside the area. Newly capped German international, Jonas Hector took the resulting free-kick, but the 24-year old blazed his effort over the bar.

Kießling went down under the challenge of Dominic Maroh inside the penalty area, albeit too easily, but German U21 ‘keeper, Horn dived to his left to keep out Çalhanoğlu’s resulting penalty five minutes before the half-time break.

Köln started the second-half brightly with Gerhardt and Hector combining down the left-flank, before the latter’s cross was cleared by Ömer Toprak.

Risse had a golden opportunity to take the lead for Köln but the energetic winger sliced his effort from 10 yards, going high and wide, as Köln look to make amends for their 5-1 defeat to Leverkusen earlier in the season.

Just seconds later, substitute Brandt put the visitors up after linking up with Josip Drmic, who made his 17th substitute appearance of the season. The 18-year old fired the ball past Horn, scoring his seventh goal in his career as a substitute.

Finne made an instant impact as a substitute after he scored Köln's equaliser after 82 minutes with a fine finish past Bernd Leno.

Köln then pushed for a winner in a match that really did have everything a derby needs. Toprak cleared off the line for Leverkusen with three minutes left to play.

Köln still remain unbeaten at home in 2015 whilst Leverkusen accepted just one point in what was a tough game for the visitors, as their seven game winning streak came to an end.