Title celebrations put on hold as Bayern Munich held to draw

30 April 2016 15:53

Bayern Munich had to put the champagne back on ice after a 1-1 draw at home to Borussia Monchengladbach meant they were still two points short of clinching a 25th Bundesliga title.

Thomas Muller put the record champions, who were hoping to celebrate winning the title in front of their own fans for the first time since 2000, in front early on, but Andre Hahn earned a spirited Gladbach side a point which keeps them in the hunt to join Bayern in the Champions League next season.

With Borussia Dortmund beating Wolfsburg 5-1, Bayern's lead at the top of the table has been cut to five points with only two games of the season remaining.

Bayern's next opportunity to wrap up the title comes at Bavarian rivals Ingolstadt next weekend, once their Champions League destiny will also have been determined.

Bayern coach Pep Guardiola made eight changes from the side which was beaten by Atletico Madrid in midweek with captain Philipp Lahm among those rested and Jerome Boateng returning after 99 days on the sidelines.

Indeed, only Manuel Neuer, Juan Bernat and Kingsley Coman kept their place in the Bayern starting XI against a Monchengladbach side unchanged from last weekend.

That also meant a return for Muller, who Guardiola admitted he may have been wrong to leave out against Atletico, and he made an immediate impact, putting Bayern in front after five minutes with a header from Joshua Kimmich's corner.

Bayern had more than one hand on the title by this stage, but Gladbach were not going to stand aside and let the celebrations begin.

Hahn's header was turned wide by Neuer, who was also alert to clear the danger just ahead of Raffael as Gladbach threatened an equaliser just before half-time.

It was a similar story after the break with Gladbach giving as good as they got, although chances were few and far between.

Gladbach created one when substitute Patrick Herrmann's cross took a deflection and Hahn only just failed to make contact in front of Neuer's goal.

Minutes later, Gladbach scored a deserved equaliser with another substitute Lars Stindl threading the needle with his pass through to Hahn, who held off Medhi Benatia before driving his low shot into the bottom right-hand corner of Neuer's goal.

Bayern responded with attack after attack, aware that the title would not be theirs with just a draw.

As they threw all caution to the wind, and Neuer advanced beyond the halfway line for a Thiago Alcantara free-kick deep in injury time, they were almost caught out with Stindl trying to score from almost 70 yards, but he missed the target just like Bayern missed out on the title, at least for another week.

Source: PA