Head coach Xabi Alonso made five changes to his team from last weekend’s goalless draw at Wolfsburg, and his side were relentless from the start in disrupting Bayern’s build-up, frequently winning the ball high up the pitch through pressing from Nathan Tella, Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz. However, chances failed to materialise in the opening period.
It was about 20 minutes until the defending champions had their first opportunity of note when Manuel Neuer denied Wirtz from a tight angle after a good run into the box, before Frimpong headed the rebound against the crossbar. Tella was then also denied by the frame of the goal when he met Piero Hincapie’s cross on the volley from close range. Wirtz then tried things from a bit further out when he attempted to catch Neuer off his line from halfway. The Werkself were very much the better team and pushing for an opener, but nothing came as Bayern ended a first half without a shot of their own for the first time since October 2011.
The first notable chance of the second period fell to Tella as he attempted to acrobatically steer a second ball from a corner into the net. The forward then had a header cleared off the line by Hiroki Ito as Leverkusen edged closer to that elusive goal. Bayern coach Vincent Kompany reacted with a quadruple substitution as the Werkself approached 81 percent possession in that period of the game. Amine Adli was introduced with five minutes to go for his first appearance since last October and very nearly won it in added time when he met a cross from the left, only to be denied by a reaction save from Neuer. Wirtz then slotted the rebound agonisingly wide. It meant this top-of-the-table clash between the champions and the league leaders ended goalless and the points were shared.
Next up for the Werkself is a first Bundesliga visit to Holstein Kiel next Saturday at 3.30pm CET.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky - Mukiele, Tah, Tapsoba, Hincapie - Frimpong, Xhaka, Palacios, Grimaldo (Schick 90'+2) - Tella (Adli 85'), Wirtz
Bayern: Neuer - Laimer, Upamecano, Kim, Ito (Stanisic 68') - Kimmich, Pavlovic (Goretzka 68') - Olise (Gnabry 68'), Musiala (Boey 86'), Coman (Sane 68') - Kane
Yellow cards: Hincapie, Tapsoba - Ito, Pavlovic, Upamecano
Referee: Daniel Siebert
Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena
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