German Bundesliga

Bayern Chaos: Two Red Cards, Three Goals Disallowed

Luiz Diaz: First he scored the 1-1 equalizer, then the dive and the red card against Leverkusen.(Bild: AFP/INA FASSBENDER)

In the 26th round of the German Bundesliga, FC Bayern stumbled in a truly chaotic match at Bayer Leverkusen: Two Munich players were sent off and a total of three goals were disallowed—yet the league leaders still managed a 1-1 draw. Hoffenheim (coached by Christian Ilzer) also drew 1-1 against crisis-stricken VfL Wolfsburg. Borussia Dortmund, on the other hand, left nothing to chance in their home match against FC Augsburg and won comfortably 2-0.

Bayer Leverkusen held FC Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw in the German Bundesliga on Saturday. The Munich side had two goals disallowed for handballs, but the league leaders managed to secure a point despite playing with two men down. Rival Borussia Dortmund defeated FC Augsburg 2-0 but still trails Bayern by nine points. Hoffenheim could only manage a 1-1 draw against Wolfsburg, while Frankfurt defeated bottom-of-the-table Heidenheim 1-0.

Bayern took the field in Leverkusen with Konrad Laimer as the starting left back, without Jamal Musiala due to injury, and with third-string goalkeeper Sven Ulreich. Ulreich was beaten just six minutes in when a deflected shot by Aleix Garcia found the net unstoppably. A goal by Jonathan Tah was disallowed due to a handball by the former Leverkusen player (26'). Harry Kane, who started on the bench, then saw his strike partner Nicolas Jackson sent off with a red card (42'). The Senegalese player struck Bayer's Martin Terrier on the ankle with his leg outstretched, and the Frenchman had to be substituted at halftime.

Despite being a man down, Munich kept the game open. Kane scored what appeared to be the equalizer just seconds after coming on as a substitute (61'), but this goal was also controversially disallowed by the refereeing team due to a handball by the Englishman. It was ultimately left to Luis Diaz to level the score following a mistake by the hosts (69'). The goal scorer was sent off in the closing stages after receiving a second yellow card for diving (84'). Leverkusen could no longer capitalize on their 11-on-9 advantage to secure the win—a goal by Jonas Hofmann was ruled out for offside (93')—and remain in sixth place.

BVB cruises past bottom-dwellers
In Dortmund, former Salzburg player Karim Adeyemi put the hosts ahead (13th minute), and 18-year-old Luca Reggiani made it 2-0 after the break (59th minute). Marcel Sabitzer was substituted in the closing stages by new ÖFB player Carney Chukwuemeka. For Augsburg, Michael Gregoritsch came on as a substitute but failed to make a significant impact. For third-place TSG Hoffenheim, coached by Christian Ilzer and featuring Alexander Prass, Grischa Prömel saved a point against Wolfsburg with his equalizer (83'). VfL player Patrick Wimmer was brought on by new coach Dieter Hecking shortly before the end.  Cologne pro Florian Kainz also made a brief appearance in the 1-1 away draw against HSV.