Munich, Germany – Bayern Munich remained comfortably on top of the Bundesliga on Saturday after a 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena.
Bayern's stellar start to the campaign has left little room for error for defending champion Dortmund, and after the visitors fell behind to a Toni Kroos goal in the 67th minute, Dortmund did well to claim a point as Mario Gotze leveled the match in the 74th.
The result leaves Dortmund 11 points adrift of Bayern, which holds an eight- point advantage over second-place Bayer Leverkusen.
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer produced big saves on Marco Reus and Mats Hummels to keep the match scoreless, and the hosts broke the deadlock with a nice piece of skill from Kroos, who took a pass from Thomas Muller and danced past two defenders before beating goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller.
Gotze pulled his side level when he picked up an attempted clearance and lashed the ball past Neuer, but it was Weidenfeller's play over the remainder of the game that allowed Dortmund to pick up a point as he denied shots from Kroos, Muller and Javi Martinez.
Bayer Leverkusen 1, Nurnberg 0
Leverkusen, Germany - Bayer Leverkusen retained second place in the Bundesliga table on Saturday with a 1-0 triumph over Nurnberg on a first-half goal from Stefan Kiessling.
Leverkusen has now taken six wins from its last seven games to remain the closest challengers to leaders Bayern Munich, but the club had to escape a strong start from Nurnberg before going in front.
Nurnberg's Sebastian Polter headed the ball against the underside of the crossbar, but watched as Kiessling converting his chance a few minutes later after taking a pass from Andre Schurrle.
Simon Rolfes nearly made it 2-0 in the final minutes but his shot came back off the post.
Augsburg 1, Freiburg 1
Augsburg, Germany - Augsburg and Freiburg traded first-half goals in a 1-1 draw at SGL Arena on Saturday, lifting Augsburg off the bottom of the league.
The hosts entered the match having collected only a point from their last five games, but got off to a bright start as Tobias Werner scored after nine minutes from a long ball by Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker.
Freiburg was back on level terms shortly before the half-hour mark when Jan Rosenthal's shot was saved by goalkeeper Mohamed Amsif, only for Jonathan Schmid to arrive first and score on the rebound.
Stuttgart 1, Greuther Furth 0
Furth, Germany - Stuttgart won for the third time in four games on Saturday by claiming a hard-fought 1-0 win at Greuther Furth that moves the club into seventh place.
The only goal arrived shortly before halftime when Shinji Okazaki was first to pounce on a rebound from Vedad Ibisevic, who had his penalty kick saved by goalkeeper Wolfgang Hesl.
Stuttgart was reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Serdar Tasci was sent off, and Furth was unlucky not to take anything from the match when Christopher Nothe's close-range effort hit the post.
The home side had another chance to level the score in the 79th minute but Edgar Prib's effort crashed against the crossbar.
Mainz 2, Hannover 1
Mainz, Germany - Mainz moved into the top six on Saturday after Adam Szalai's late winner at the Coface Arena which gave the club a 2-1 victory over Hannover.
Nicolai Muller scored the opening goal after 10 minutes when he followed up his own rebound for Mainz, but Hannover was back on level terms midway through the first half as Christian Schulz redirected a ball past goalkeeper Christian Wetklo.
Wetklo's day then got worse as he was sent off for handling the ball outside his penalty area in the 49th minute.
But despite the numerical advantage, Hannover failed to capitalize and left without any points when Szalai headed home Eugen Polanski's cross in the 89th minute to win the game.
Schalke 1, Monchengladbach 1
Gelsenkirchen, Germany - Schalke salvaged a point at home against Monchengladbach on Saturday after Julian Draxler's 85th-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw at the Veltins Arena.
Schalke is still in the top four after the result, but the club has dropped well off the pace of leaders Bayern Munich with only two points from its last four games.
Igor De Camargo had the visitors poised to claim all three points when he poked a shot past Schalke goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand in the 62nd minute.
But the hosts pressed forward for the equalizer and were rewarded five minutes from time as substitute Teemu Pukki picked out Draxler at the back post and saw him turn the ball past goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.