Nine-man Bayern fight to draw at Leverkusen

Leaders Bayern Munich held on for a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen despite finishing with nine men in an eventful Bundesliga clash on Saturday.

Second-placed Borussia Dortmund’s comfortable home win at Augsburg drew them nine points behind reigning champions Bayern with eight games to play.

Aleix Garcia’s goal gave Leverkusen the lead and Bayern striker Nicolas Jackson saw red before half-time.

Luis Diaz levelled things up but then picked up a second yellow card for diving in the box.

Bayern held firm to grab a point, even as Leverkusen had two efforts chalked off in stoppage time.

Bayern also had strikes from Jonathan Tah and substitute Harry Kane ruled out by VAR for handball in a sometimes manic match at the BayArena.

“It was a poor performance from the referee,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany told DAZN.

“Why he (Diaz) gets a red card, nobody in the stadium knows anymore, it’s insane…

“Someone needs to explain to me why that’s a yellow card at that stage of the game.

“It’s a huge blow and he’ll be out for the next game.”

Referee Christian Dingert admitted he made an error by sending Diaz off.

“I perceived the incident as him diving. Looking at the footage, it’s clear it wasn’t a penalty. But the red card was very harsh — I wouldn’t give that now,” Dingert told Sky.

Leverkusen, who held Arsenal to the same scoreline on Wednesday, travel to London for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 clash on Tuesday.

Garcia finished off a fluid team move to put Leverkusen ahead six minutes in, the Spain midfielder collecting a Patrik Schick pass and chipping the ball over third-choice Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich, playing with Manuel Neuer and Jonas Urbig out injured.

Former Leverkusen centre-back Tah looked to have levelled things up midway through the first half when he found the net from a corner, but VAR intervened.

Bayern’s hopes took a further hit when Jackson saw red for sinking his studs into Martin Terrier’s ankle just before the break.

With 30 minutes left, Bayern brought Kane on as a substitute after his recent absence with a calf knock and the England captain thought he had scored just 47 seconds later, but again VAR spotted a handball.

Diaz finally grabbed Bayern an equaliser when he guided a pin-point Michael Olise pass in with 69 minutes gone.

Chasing a winner, the Colombian went down in the box under light contact from Leverkusen ‘keeper Janis Blaswich and was shown a second yellow for diving.

Down to nine men for the first time since 2001, Bayern dug deep despite their numerical disadvantage in the dying stages to cling on for a point.

 

Dortmund inch closer

Dortmund moved two points closer to Bayern with Karim Adeyemi and Luca Reggiani both getting on the scoresheet in a 2-0 home win over Augsburg.

“We really enjoyed it today. We controlled the game,” Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha told DAZN.

Adeyemi gave Dortmund the lead in the 13th minute, turning in a Maximilian Beier pass from close range.

Stodgy and uninspired in beating a 10-man Cologne last week, Dortmund showed fluency in attack, although Adeyemi and Beier took turns in hitting the crossbar before the break as Augsburg stayed in the game.

But just before the hour mark, 18-year-old centre-back Reggiani headed in a Julian Ryerson corner for his first Bundesliga goal.

The victory took Dortmund to 58 points, one more than their final total last season.

In Saturday’s late game, promoted Hamburg drew 1-1 at home with Cologne, with Arsenal loanee Fabio Vieira’s lobbed opener for the hosts cancelled out by Said El Mala heading home from close range.

Elsewhere, Arnaud Kalimuendo scored as Eintracht Frankfurt beat last-placed Heidenheim 1-0.

Wolfsburg’s bid to beat the drop took a hit in a 1-1 draw at Hoffenheim which left them stranded in the relegation zone.