Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg held to 1-1 draws in Bundesliga
Berlin, Feb 4 (IANS) FC Schalke 04 held 10-man Bayern Munich 1-1 while VfS Wolfsburg carved out a 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the 19th round of the Bundesliga
Bayern shocked the visitors with the opener on Tuesday despite going down to 10 men, but Schalke's Benedikt Howedes restored parity to snatch one point on the road, reports Xinhua. The hosts ensured the worst possible start against Schalke as Bayern's Jerome Boateng committed a foul to see a straight red card and concede a penalty for the visitors with just 17 minutes on the clock.
However, Schalke were unable to take advantage as Schalke's Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting squandered the chance to open the scoring from the spot as his penalty was a weak effort on target, which was stopped by Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Schalke remained harmless and passive against a 10-member Bayern, who piled on the pressure to break the deadlock through Arjen Robben, who headed home a corner from Xabi Alonso in the 67th minute.
Nevertheless, the joy was short-lived for the Bavarians as Schalke fought back to level the scores just five minutes later when Howedes nodded home a corner inside the far post.
With this result, Bayern recorded their fourth draw of the season to remain atop the standings with 46 points while Schalke stay in fourth position with 31 points.
Wolfsburg share points with Eintracht Frankfurt
Wolfsburg were unable to build on their convincing 4-1 victory against Bayern as they shared the spoils with Frankfurt thanks to a late equaliser from Kevin De Bruyne.
Both sides lacked in precision in the first half, yet things changed with the restart as Frankfurt's Stefan Aigner broke the deadlock in the 58th minute. The midfielder made use of Takashi Inui’s build-up to slot home from 11 meters into the far post corner.
The "Wolves" lacked ideas going forward, but their go-to player De Bruyne pulled them out of trouble when he levelled the score following the square pass into the box by Marcel Schaefer with just two minutes remaining in the game.
Wolfsburg sit in second place with 38 points while Frankfurt remain in ninth position with 24 points.
Monchengladbach close in on Wolfsburg
Elsewhere, Borussia Monchengladbach reaped their second narrow 1-0 win in a row, courtesy of Patrick Herrmann's winner in the 23rd minute. SC Freiburg pressed for the equaliser, but their efforts remained fruitless.
With the victory, third-placed Monchengladbach reduced the gap to second placed Wolfsburg to five points whilst Freiburg remain in the 14th place.
Hannover 96 were unable to maintain their 1-0 lead as FSV Mainz 05 fought back in the second half as Elkin Soto cancelled out Jimmy Briand's opener to share the points.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Wednesday: last placed Borussia Dortmund face FC Augsburg, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim see SV Werder Bremen visit them, Hertha BSC host Bayer Leverkusen, newly promoted FC Cologne meet relegation-threatened VfB Stuttgart and newly-promoted SC Paderborn 07 encounter struggling Hamburg SV.