Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen dropped another point when they were held to a goalless draw at Hannover 96 on Saturday, but remain four points clear as Bayern Munich continued their rise up the table.
Jupp Heynckes’ undefeated Leverkusen have now drawn five of their last seven games.
“We were missing something today,” said Heynckes.
“We lacked precision in our passing and we were not so certain in midfield. We missed some good chances to score and the result is fair for both sides,” he said.
VfB Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel was robbed of his first league win since September by a stunning goal from VfL Bochum on Saturday.
The home side were denied their chance to escape the bottom three and grab only their third Bundesliga win of the season after Bochum’s Austria defender Christian Fuchs beat Jens Lehmann with a stunning free-kick.
The ex-Germany goalkeeper was left red-faced when Fuchs curled his effort over the Stuttgart wall and into the back of the net to leave the home side third from bottom.
Germany defender Serdar Tasci’s second-half header looked to have lifted Stuttgart out of the bottom three and seal their first league win since September 26 to ease some of the pressure on Babbel.
His side must beat Romania’s Unirea Urziceni at home on Wednesday to progress from Group G in the Champions League behind Sevilla and Babbel will find out in the winter break if he will keep his job.
Defending champions VfL Wolfsburg needed a late goal to seal a 2-2 draw with Freiburg on Saturday as they prepare for tomorrow’s crunch home Champions League match against Manchester United, which they must win to progress.
Freiburg took the lead when Cameroon striker Mohamadou Idrissou netted after only 19 minutes, but Wolves equalized when Freiburg’s 21-year-old defender Felix Bastians headed into his own net.
Wolfsburg’s Germany defender Marcel Schaefer hauled down Freiburg’s Daniel Caligiuri and Croatia midfielder Ivica Banovic slotted home the penalty on 51 minutes.
But Wolfsburg’s Fabian Johnson scored on only his fourth appearance two minutes from time to give his side a valuable point.
On Saturday, mid-table Eintracht Frankfurt beat 10-man Mainz 05 2-0 thanks to a first-half strike from defender Maik Franz and a late goal by Alexander Meier. Franz is notorious for clashes with opposing forwards, and his clash with Algeria forward Chadli Amri led to the striker’s second yellow card and the subsequent red on 68 minutes.
Frankfurt made sure of the three points when midfielder Meier netted in the 90th minute.
Borussia Dortmund moved up to seventh in the Bundesliga table and did their goal difference tally the world of good when they hammered Nuremberg 4-0.
Hamburg SV were held to a goalless draw at home to Hoffenheim.
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