Goalless games give Bayern a lift

FC Bayern München got good value for a win on Friday night, with two goalless draws on Saturday seeing three title challengers drop points in Germany.

Badstuber breakthrough
The Bundesliga weekend kicked off with Bayern overcoming VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 on Friday night; Mario Gómez drove them into a 19th-minute lead, and though Roel Brouwers responded for the visitors before the break, 20-year-old Holger Badstuber won the game, with his 75th-minute free-kick also his first senior goal.

Goalless games
The victory was to prove particularly valuable for Louis van Gaal's men, with an unusual number of draws in Saturday's fixtures allowing them to keep third place in the table. Hamburger SV and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim drew 0-0, and there were also no goals in leaders Bayer 04 Leverkusen's game at Hannover 96. "It was a strange game with several chances," said Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes. "In the end this result is fair although Hannover were maybe a bit better than us."

Johnson leveller
Elsewhere, VfB Stuttgart drew 1-1 with fellow stragglers VfL Bochum 1848, while a Fabian Johnson goal nine minutes time saw champions VfL Wolfsburg salvage a 2-2 draw in their tie against SC Freiburg. The only winning side in Saturday's early fixtures were BV Borussia Dortmund, who put four without reply past 1. FC Nürnberg, Kevin Grosskreutz, Lucas Barrios, Mohamed Zidan and Mats Hummels getting the goals. Eintracht Frankfurt also bucked the trend, beating ten-man 1. FSV Mainz 2-0 in the day's late kick-off.