Bayern Munich walked into the BayArena and absolutely battered Bayer Leverkusen, but unfortunately for the visitors, the scoreboard didn't show it. They couldn't capitalize on their slew of chances and their defense broke down once, which was enough for Bayer to snatch a point in a 1-1 draw with the champions to stay -- along with Borussia Dortmund -- just one point back of Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga table.
Bayer Leverkusen vs. Bayern Munich: Final score 1-1, Dominant FCB settle for draw
The top of the Bundesliga table is still packed after Bayer held on for a point against Bayern.
Alex Grimm
After a cagey opening, Toni Kroos put Bayern in front with a 29th-minute strike, but much of the credit should go to Franck Ribery. The Frenchman got free down the left and worked his way down to the endline before picking out Kroos in the center. Kroos still had work to do, but Ribery had done the hard part and when Kroos slammed the ball into the top of the net, Bayern had themselves a 1-0 lead.
The champions' lead only lasted two minutes, though. Manuel Neuer made a mess of a cross and found himself out of position when Sebastian Boenisch followed with a shot. As a result, Neuer was only able to get a finger to it, which left the rebound in front of a wide-open goal for Sidney Sam to bury.
Sam’s goal ignited the BayArena, but it didn’t do much to wake up the home side. They struggled to create chances the rest of the way and were most alive when kicking Bayern players or yelling at the referee.
Meanwhile, Bayern were superb, at least until they got into the final third. They dominated possession and had 27 shots to Bayer’s five, but their finishing was poor, their luck non-existent and Bernd Leno was tremendous to keep them from finding a winner.
Despite Bayern’s dominance, they nearly lost the match when Ribery ran over Jens Hegeler on one of the home side’s few forays forward, but the referee chose not to award a penalty and Bayern would get at least a point in a match when they probably deserved three.
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