Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund played out a 0-0 draw in the Bundesliga today with both sides finishing the match with ten men.
Michal Kadlec was shown a straight red card in the second half for the home side before Mario Gotze was shown a second yellow for a kick out on Hanno Balitsch. The sides that finished second and first respectively in Germany's top flight last season could not break each other down in a hotly contested 90 minutes.
Perhaps it was telling that the man of the match was Roman Weidenfeller, the Dortmund goalkeeper, as both sides failed to open each other up. There were no real moments of excitement in the opening 45 minutes but the home side were in control as Dortmund failed to reproduce their sizzling form which seen them crowned champions.
In the fifth minute Andre Schurrle was put through on goal via a slide-rule pass from skipper Simon Rolfes, but Dortmund's Roman Weidenfeller stood up well to save from the forward. With both sides waiting for the opportunity to score, Weidenfeller produced another fantastic save around 23 minutes this time from a header from Stefan Reinhartz following a Renato Augusto free-kick from the left. The home side, backed by a boisterous vocal backing, were growing in confidence and manager Robin Dutt would have been content with how the game was going at half-time.
After the break, Schurrle's pace was causing Dortmund's defence a few problems and Leverkusen were looking dangerous on the attack. They eventually tamed the winger down and the champions dictated play and began to create chances. The longer the game went on, the more you thought that one goal would settle the game.
In the 64th minute Leverkusen's Kadlec saw a straight red card shown in his face for a challenge on Mario Gotze, which looked nothing more than a yellow and immediately disadvantaged Leverkusen's attempts of winning the game. Renato Augusto was sacrificed as the hosts had to reshuffle the pack with their left-back ordered off, Balitsch replacing him.
66 minutes in and Borussia Dortmund looked the better side in the second half and substitute Ivan Perisic forced young Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno into a superb reaction save after a fine volley from a Gotze chipped cross.
Referee Wolfgang Stark evened the sides up after the hot German prospect Gotze stupidly kicked out at Balitsch and received a second yellow with 13 minutes left on the clock. Manager Jurgen Klopp took off the unusually quiet Shinji Kagawa to bring on impact sub Jakub Blasczykowski.
As both sides looked for a late winner, the closing few minutes were played out at a slow pace as both teams realised they didn't want to take the risk and end up losing out on all three points. Jurgen Klopp's title defenders sit fourth in the Bundesliga standings after four games, with Bayer Leverkusen propping up in sixth place. A frustrating game for both sides who will want to start a winning run after slightly shaky starts to the 2011/12 Bundesliga campaign.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN: Leno, Toprak, Reinhartz, Castro, Kadlec: Rolfes, L. Bender: Sam, Augusto, Schurrle: KieBling.
BORUSSIA DORTMUND: Weidenfeller, Piszcek, Hummels, Subotic, Schmelzer: Gundogan, S.Bender: Gotze, Kagawa, GroBkreutz: Lewandowski.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund)
ATTENDANCE: 30,210.
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