Bayern and Leverkusen draw after two stunners
Bundesliga heavyweights Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen played out an enthralling 1-1 draw at Allianz Arena, both sides scoring a stunning goal apiece, but neither enough to claim all three points.
Two long-range strikes, one from Robert Andrich to put Leverkusen in front and another from Aleksandar Pavlovic to level matters, ensured a share of the spoils.
Defending champion Leverkusen scored with its first chance in the 31st minute when Granit Xhaka controlled a corner with his chest and set up Andrich outside the box, with the Germany international's sweeping low shot drilled through a crowd of players into the bottom corner.
The lead did not last long, however, as a poor clearance fell to Pavlovic and the midfielder pulled the trigger from 25 yards with a half-volley that brushed the fingertips of goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky as it sailed into the top corner.
With Serge Gnabry having hit the post and then crossbar in quick succession, Bayern dominated proceedings in the second half, with Leverkusen pegged back.
But despite having 18 shots, Bayern could not clinch a decisive second goal.
Bayern stays top of the standings with 13 points, while Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen is third with 10 points, a point behind RB Leipzig, which thrashed Augsburg 4-0.
It was a disappointing day for Harry Kane, who failed to have any chances and limped off with an injury Vincent Kompany will hope is not too serious.
The England captain did not register a single shot during the game and was hurt in a collision late on.
Whether Kane features against Aston Villa in midweek remains to be seen, but Kompany hopes his forward is fit for a return to England.
"I'm not a doctor, but I hope it's nothing serious," the Bayern boss said.
Although Bayern's perfect start to the league campaign is no more, Kompany saw plenty of positives in his side's display.
"As a Bayern coach, you always want to win," he added. "But the performance was as we'd hoped. The counter-pressing was positive, we won the second balls, we created so many chances.
"Normally, in such a game, you don't create many chances, but we did. It was a top game, but there are still many games to go. We just have to keep going."
Xabi Alonso, meanwhile, was proud of his Bayer Leverkusen players after they produced a resolute defensive performance.
"The energy and belief at Bayern is different to last season, they are going full throttle with and against the ball," Alonso noted.
"That was very tough today. We can be happy with the point. I needed more energy from the team.
"I'm happy with that. We were ready to suffer and we did that. We need the discipline and passion of the players.
"It wasn't easy, we didn't have control of the ball. It was a challenge to defend. The point is important. The whole team did very well. We hardly had a chance to breathe but I'm very proud of my players."
Xhaka said Leverkusen's main strategy was to be compact and deny Bayern opportunities to score.
"We are self-critical. If you score three goals every game, that's not enough. If we play well today and switch gears, we can do something," Xhaka said.
"Defensively, we put in a good performance. The goal today was to be compact and concede little. You can certainly do more with the ball and everyone knows that we can do more. If someone had told us before the game that we would get a point, we would have taken it."
