Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen were held 0-0 at second-placed Hamburg on Saturday while Bayern Munich moved up to fifth as hot-shot midfielder Thomas Mueller helped seal a 2-1 win at Freiburg.
The stalemate at Hamburg’s HSH Nordbank Arena left the top two locked on 21 points with Bayer top by virtue of goal difference.
“We came here to get points and we could have won it at the end,” Leverkusen defender Sami Hyypia said. “Maybe we could have done more with the ball, Hamburg had their chances, but from our point of view, we defended well.”
Earlier, Mueller, who has made a name for himself with six goals in all competitions this season, was set up by Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni to put Bayern on the path to victory.
Toni’s effort on goal was deflected into the path of Mueller and the midfielder slammed home his shot on 42 minutes and made sure of the three points when Freiburg’s South Korean defender Cha Du-ri scored an own goal.
Under pressure from Mueller, Cha attempted to pass back to his goalkeeper but could only watch as the ball rolled into his own net on 68 minutes.
Freiburg hit a consolation goal in injury time when striker Stefan Reisinger met a cross from striker Mohamadou Idrissou.
Schalke are third after they sealed a 2-1 win over Stuttgart.
Cacau equalized for Stuttgart on 73 minutes after Schalke midfielder Ivan Rakitic had put the Royal Blues ahead in the first-half.
Kevin Kuranyi scored the winner in the 76th minute.
Werder Bremen are fourth after they sealed a 2-0 win over Hoffenheim with goalkeeper Tim Wiese saving a first-half penalty from Carlos Eduardo after only 14 minutes.
Both goals came just moments later in the first half as Claudio Pizarro put his side ahead with a header on 18 minutes before Per Mertesacker added a second on 22 minutes.
Cologne picked up three more valuable points to pull away from the bottom three and up to 14th after their 1-0 win at home to Mainz while Eintracht Frankfurt beat Hanover 2-1.
Hertha Berlin remain rooted to the bottom, and are now five points from safety, as they lost 3-0 at Nuremberg.
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