It was a mouth-watering fixture, on paper, as Bayern Munich faced a tricky away trip to the BayArena, home of Bayer Leverkusen; a side looking to fight its way back into the UEFA Champions League spots.

After the simple 3-0 home win over struggling Hannover 96, Roger Schmidt made only the one change, replacing Roberto Hilbert with the returning Tin Jedvaj, who has missed the majority of the season with a thigh injury.

Pep Guardiola also made the one change to his Bayern side that defeated Hoffenheim 2-0 at the Allianz Arena, with Thomas Müller making way for Arturo Vidal.

Drab half

Bayern laid siege to Leverkusen's goal within the first ten minutes, dominating possession in their half by pinging the ball conservatively. Arjen Robben crossed in a free kick, but Bernd Leno confidently managed to clear it to safety.

The only real chance of the first half came from a Hakan Çalhanoğlu corner, which Joshua Kimmich misread, and Ömer Toprak was left free to header, but Manuel Neuer easily saved.

Sadly, the first half went rather downhill after this. A few unthreatening corners and 'pass, long ball, pass, foul, repeat' seemed to be the continuous theme, most notably with Vidal forced into limping from a controversial Stefan Kießling challenge on his left knee. Admittedly, it was the home side who were seemingly the more happy to get dirty, but they were pressuring Bayern well nonetheless, despite having just 35% possession.

Toprak, Costa and Çalhanoğlu fight for the ball | Photo: Kicker
Toprak, Costa and Çalhanoğlu fight for the ball | Photo: Kicker

Heat turned up

Pep decided to stick with Vidal after the second half, hoping he would shake off his niggling injury, however little over 6 minutes in and he was taken off to be replaced by Thiago. Schmidt also made a change at the same time with Hilbert replacing Jedvaj.

Soon after these substitutions, there was a flurry of activity with Javier Hernández missing a shot from outside the box (which, rather comically, nearly struck the warming-up Müller) and Hakan Çalhanoğlu also striking the defending Kimmich. At the other end, Robben went on an adventure, sprinting half the length of the field before being controversially dispossessed.

After coming on for the exhausted Robben, Müller almost made an immediate impact - Kingsley Coman embarrassed Toprak and crosses it for the German international, who volleys over the bar. Moments after, Müller went very close again following another intricate move, this time shooting inches wide.

With Müller playing in an attacking position and the absence of Jedvaj (after being taken off earlier), Leverkusen had their backs to the wall and could not break out. However, despite being on the defensive, the home side continued to rely on Toprak to save them.

Controversy late on

Despite being on the receiving end of wave-after-wave of Leverkusen fouls, it was Bayern who paid the price after Xabi Alonso brought down Hernández and was sent off after picking up his second yellow card on what looked a soft challenge. The home side started to push on, following their numerical advantage, with Bayern dealing with the attacks with relative ease before substitute, Julian Brandt, went very close to a snatch and grab.

Following a late chance where Robert Lewandowski could not meet Douglas Costa's cross, the referee blew the whistle and the match ended in a stalemate. The first goalless draw between these two in the Bundesliga since 1990.

Following the stalemate at the Olympiastadion, Bayern retain their 8-point lead at the top and Leverkusen move up a slot to 5th, a point below the Champions League places.

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