Bayern Munich protected their five-point lead at the top of the table yesterday, drawing 0-0 at second-placed Borussia Dortmund to stay on track for a record fourth consecutive Bundesliga title.
The game, broadcast to 208 countries, lived up to its big billing with a frantic pace and a goal was the only thing missing from an entertaining encounter.
Bayern wasted a golden chance early on when Thomas Mueller’s effort went narrowly over. Arturo Vidal also came close for the visitors while Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was denied by keeper Manuel Neuer after charging through on goal.
The best scoring opportunity fell to Bayern’s Douglas Costa who raced clear with only keeper Roman Buerki to beat but the Swiss stood his ground to deny the winger.
Bayern, chasing three trophies this season, kept up the pressure in the second half and Buerki made the save of the game on the hour, tipping a thunderous Vidal shot on to the bar.
The result lifted the Bavarians, who lost 2-1 to Mainz 05 in midweek, to 63 points from 25 games with Dortmund on 58.
Earlier, basement side Hanover headed closer to the drop after meekly surrendering 4-1 at resurgent Werder Bremen in the big Bundesliga battle at the bottom.
All eyes were on the top-of-the-table clash between Dortmund and leaders Bayern later but in other early results, Schalke rose to fourth after a 3-1 win at Cologne and Borussia Moenchengladbach fell to fifth after losing 2-1 at VfL Wolfsburg.
Bayer Leverkusen came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at Augsburg with a last-gasp Hakan Calhanoglu penalty after Koo Ja-Cheol’s hat-trick had the hosts cruising.
Second-bottom Hoffenheim are now three points from safety after a 5-1 battering at VfB Stuttgart and third-bottom Eintracht Frankfurt’s 1-1 draw at home to Ingolstadt.
Bremen moved three points above Eintracht in the relegation playoff spot after evergreen striker Claudio Pizarro scored his 100th goal for the club with a superb second to leave beleaguered Hanover still four points adrift at the bottom.
Fin Bartels gave Bremen the lead on 18 minutes after Hiroki Sakai’s tackle fell into his path.
Peruvian Pizarro, 37, became the oldest player to score a Bundesliga hat-trick in Wednesday’s 4-1 thumping of Leverkusen and he again did the business by flicking the ball over a defender’s head and unleashing an unstoppable drive in the 26th minute.
Hanover did pull one back just before the break when Kenan Karaman prodded in but it was another limp display from Thomas Schaaf’s side against his long-time former club as Theodor Gebre Selassie and Zlatko Junuzovic netted for the hosts in the second half.
Hanover have now picked up just one win in 11 games while Bremen have powered up to 13th.
“This was a very important win,” said Pizarro. “Now we can take a deep breath and concentrate on the job ahead.”
There were a flurry of early goals in the Bundesliga, not least in Cologne where Klaas Jan Huntelaar opened the scoring for Schalke from the penalty spot after a foul by Dominic Maroh.
It was soon 2-0 after Max Meyer was coolness personified in the box to fire home and although Leonardo Bittencourt’s header reduced the deficit, Schalke added a third through Franco Di Santo and now have a two-point cushion in the Champions League playoff spot.
Gladbach slipped up at improving Wolfsburg after clever play inside the box allowed Julian Draxler to open the scoring before Max Kruse rifled in from an awkward angle against his former club.
Raffael scored from an even tighter angle with a rasping drive into the roof of the net for the visitors but it was not enough.
South Korean Koo was the star of the show for Augsburg as his goalpoaching skills badly exposed Leverkusen’s defensive frailties.
But the visitors conjured up a remarkable recovery in the second half with Karim Bellarabi netting before a Paul Verhaegh own goal and Calhanoglu’s spot kick earned the draw.