Bayern held at Wolfsburg

Borussia Dortmund maintained a 13-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga as second-placed Mainz lost 1-0 at Stuttgart and defending champions Bayern Munich were held to a 1-1 draw at Wolfsburg where both sides missed a penalty.

Borussia blitzed Leverkusen with three goals in six minutes on Friday as Jurgen Klopp’s young side showed no sign of releasing their grip at the top.

Goals by Dortmund’s young Germany squad members Mario Goetze and Kevin Grosskreutz sealed the win as Michael Ballack spent the game on the bench as the Germany captain looks to return from a leg injury.

After ex-England coach Steve McClaren sold striker Edin Dzeko to Manchester City over the German league’s winter break, Wolfsburg lacked firepower upfront against Bayern, but showed dogged domination against the champions.

Bayern opened the scoring when Thomas Mueller went one-to-one with goalkeeper Diego Benaglio for a loose ball, 20 metres out, and the ball bounced off the Munich man’s legs and into the empty net early on.

Philipp Lahm then saw his penalty attempt slam off the post after he beat Benaglio following a foul on Bayern’s Danijel Pranjic by Ashkan Dejagah on 21 minutes.

There was bad news for Bayern four minutes later when playmaker Franck Ribery, who has only just come back from injury, went over on his ankle while competing for the ball and limped off.

But Bayern showed the strength of their squad when Dutch winger Arjen Robben came on for his first appearance of the season since picking up a thigh injury at the World Cup last July.

Dejagah then won a penalty for the hosts when he was fouled by Bayern’s Germany defender Holger Badstuber in injury time at the end of the half.

Bayern goalkeeper Thomas Kraft, who was making his Bundesliga debut, showed he could cope with the pressure by pulling off a reflex save from Brazil striker Grafite just before the half-time whistle.

Wolfsburg saved the point when defender Sascha Riether netted with less than five minutes to go, but Mueller nearly poached victory when he netted in the 89th minute, only for his effort to be ruled offside.

The result left Bayern 16 points behind Dortmund.

Bottom side Borussia Moenchengladbach gave themselves a boost in their battle to stay up with a 1-0 win at Nuremberg when goalkeeper Christofer Heimeroth earned the three points with a dramatic late penalty save.

Results

Nuremberg 0 - B. M’gladbach 1
Schalke 0 - Hamburg 1
St Pauli 2 - Freiburg 2
Stuttgart 1 - Mainz 0
W. Bremen 2 - Hoffenheim 1
Wolfsburg 1 - B. Munich 1

Today
E. Frankfurt vs Hannover - 15.30
Kaiserslauter vs Cologne - 17.30

Played on Friday
B. Leverkusen 1 - B. Dortmund 3