The recently-crowned Bundesliga champions Bayern had a tough test in store, as they were the visitors to fourth placed Leverkusen, who had the chance to leapfrog Borussia Monchengladbach into third place as their run of impressive form has helped their charge towards the top of the table.

The spectacle was an end-to-end one, especially in the early going, as Mario Götze came close to breaking the deadlock after just six minutes, but to be denied by a good diving stop made by Bernd Leno in the Bayer goal. Heung Min-Son used his blistering pace to his advantage as he posed questions of the Bayern backline throughout, and was a constant threat on the counter attack, but the hosts were unable to test Manuel Neuer much in the early exchanges. 

Son had a stinging drive hit the side netting inside the area, as he faked to cross the ball into the area, and deceived the last defender before his shot flashed inches wide of the German 'keeper's goal. A few cynical fouls in quick succession slowed down the tempo of the match, but referee Christian Dingert was eager to keep his cards in his pocket, at least early on, as the aggressors were left un-punished, including Bastian Schweinsteiger, whose tackle on Karim Bellarabi stopped the tricky winger from driving forward on the counter attack - something manager Pep Guardiola would have been satisfied with, in stopping given his talent. 

Rafinha was very lucky not to be the first man in the referee's book, for what was a reckless challenge on Stefan Kießling, kicking him from behind, and catching his ribs in the process without winning the ball. Tin Jedvaj saw his ambitious effort from inside the box swerve wide of Neuer's far post, as the young talented defender was aiming for goal but perhaps rushed his effort after Leverkusen's corner-kick was partially cleared into the 18-year-old's path. Then just a minute later, the hosts went on the counter attack again and very nearly broke the deadlock, if it was not for the safe hands of the German number one 'keeper, who thwarted Son's powerful shot towards the near post, smothering the danger and easing the pressure off his centre-backs who were caught in no man's land. 

The referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the first-half, with the sides going into the interval goal-less. As the second-half began, neither side made any alterations to their respective teams, and the game remained a tense affair until a moment of magic from 21-year-old creative midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu. The Turkish youngster stepped up to a free-kick, around 25 yards out, and curled a peach of a strike beyond the wall and past Neuer into the bottom corner of the net, to break the deadlock in some style. 

Bayern had a few half-chances to score, but Leno was equal to all of them, as the hosts kept their lead. Then, out of the blue, Leverkusen doubled their lead with eight minutes plus stoppages left to play. Substitute winger Julian Brandt, who came on just minutes before in place of the goalscorer Hakan, was fed through with a golden one-on-one chance to score past Neuer, and fired his effort low and hard into the bottom corner - an unstoppable strike. 

The fourth official signalled for three minutes of added time, and as the time ticked down, it seemed as though Bayer were more than happy to sit back with their comfortable two-goal cushion. It was obvious that Guardiola's men were frustrated, from their cynical and rather sloppy challenges late on. The full-time whistle blew, and Leverkusen will have been happy with what was an efficient display all-round, in-front of their home supporters.