Leaders Bayern held to 0-0 draw at Leverkusen – Dortmund, Hertha draw

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BERLIN, Feb 6, (Agencies): Bayern Munich missed the chance to go ten points clear in the Bundesliga after being held to a scoreless draw at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.

It was only the third time that Pep Guardiola’s side dropped points in 20 games this season with Bayern seeing Xabi Alonso sent off late for two tactical fouls within minutes of each other.

There were few chances in the first half with Leverkusen having the only effort on goal for either side  Omer Toprak’s header went straight to Manuel Neuer.

Leverkusen looked more like scoring early in the second, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez sending a spectacular effort just wide before Hakan Calhanoglu was blocked out for a corner.

The visitors improved with the introduction of Thomas Mueller, who missed two good chances that he’d normally take.

Bayern pushed for a winner even after Alonso’s sending off, but Robert Lewandowski in particular was left to rue near misses.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the Bundesliga’s top-scorer, failed to fire on Saturday as Borussia Dortmund were held to a goalless draw at Hertha Berlin with Jose Mourinho watching in the stands.

Aubameyang, who has scored 20 league goals this season, had a rare off day at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, managing just 11 touches, with no shots on goal, in his 71 minutes.

The Gabon forward — Africa’s player of the year — was eventually hauled off by Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel and was left scowling on the bench.

It was only the sixth time this season that ‘Auba’ has failed to score in one of Dortmund’s league games.

Berlin’s Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou went close for Hertha, while Vedad Ibisevic was denied a second-half penalty.

The game failed to deliver as second-placed Dortmund remained ten points clear of Hertha.

“It took a while for us to get into the game and come to terms with the conditions,” said Tuchel, who criticised the Berlin pitch.

“We dominated the second half, but the bottom line is that we didn’t have the form to decide the game.”

Mourinho made a surprise appearance in Berlin after being invited to the Olympic Stadium by Dortmund’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.

The visit came just 24 hours after Mourinho’s representatives reportedly held talks with Manchester United about replacing Louis van Gaal as manager of the Premier League club.

The 53-year-old has been linked with the Old Trafford post since being sacked by Chelsea in December.

Less than a fortnight before their Champions League last 16, first-leg clash at Ghent, Wolfsburg crashed to a 3-0 defeat at Schalke to remain winless in their last five games.

Dieter Hecking’s Wolves had few answers as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Johannes Geis and new-signing Alessa-ndro Schoepf netted for Schalke.

The result pushed the Royal Blues up to fourth as Wolfsburg drop to eighth.

Stuttgart are now up to 11th, five points from the bottom three, with their fourth straight league win in a bad-tempered 4-2 victory at Eintracht Frankfurt as both sides finished with 10 men.

Stuttgart raced into a 2-0 lead as Christian Gentner, then Daniel Didavi scored for the visitors before but the latter was shown a red card after picking up a second booking on 67 minutes.

Frankfurt captain Alex Meier pulled it back to 2-1 with 40 minutes left before Stuttgart pulled away with goals by defender Georg Niedermeier and Filip Kostic.

Eintracht defender Carlos Zambrano also saw red after being sent off 15 minutes from time for his second booking.

Frankfurt’s Szabolcs Huszti then made it 4-2 by scoring in the 90th minute.

Hanover 96 remain rooted to the bottom of the table after their 1-0 defeat at home to Mainz as Spanish midfielder Jairo scored the first-half winner.

Ingolstadt won the Bavaria derby with a 2-1 win at home to Augsburg thanks to Moritz Hartmann’s winning penalty five minutes from time.

On Friday, Borussia Moenchengladbach got back to winning ways with a 5-1 thrashing of strugglers Werder Bremen as teenage Danish defender Andreas Christensen, on loan from Chelsea, netted twice.

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