Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich had two players sent off and two goals disallowed but came back from a goal down to snatch a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Bayern have 67 points ahead of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who closed the gap to nine after a 2-0 home victory over Augsburg, with eight games remaining.
The Bavarians, fresh from Tuesday’s 6-1 demolition of Atalanta in the Champions League last 16, had Nicolas Jackson sent off for a wild tackle before the break. Forward Luis Diaz, who scored a 69th-minute equaliser, joined him on the sidelines after a second booking for diving.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team’s mentality today,” said Bayern coach Vincent Kompany, who was unhappy with decisions, including two disallowed goals by Jonathan Tah and Harry Kane, both for handball.
“I’m proud of the team, but unhappy with some of the decisions. Regarding Jonathan Tah’s (disallowed first half) goal, what should he do? The ball bounced off his arm into his foot.”
“As for Harry’s goal, I can’t understand it either. For me it was a clear goal. I’m proud but there were situations where we can have different opinions.”
PERFECT START FOR LEVERKUSEN
The hosts made a perfect start when Aleix Garcia fired them into the lead as Bayern, with top scorer Kane on the bench, failed to settle.
They put the ball in the net through Tah but the effort was disallowed following a VAR review for handball.
It got worse three minutes from halftime when Jackson was dismissed for his reckless tackle on Martin Terrier.
Malik Tillman should have added another for Leverkusen when he was sent through with a clever Patrik Schick backheel but the U.S. international fired wide with only Bayern keeper Sven Ulreich to beat.
Bayern’s third-choice keeper, making a rare appearance due to injuries to Manuel Neuer and Jonas Urbig, also denied Schick in a one-on-one.
Kane, back after missing two matches due to a muscle injury, challenged keeper Janis Blaswich and tapped in from close range a minute after coming on, only for the goal to be disallowed for handball by the England captain.
Diaz did better, slotting in after a defensive blunder from Robert Andrich and Michael Olise’s record-breaking 17th assist of the season, to level, but he got his marching orders six minutes from time for a spectacular dive in the box.
There was more late drama when the hosts thought they had won it in stoppage time through substitute Jonas Hofmann’s close-range effort but a VAR review showed a narrow offside position.