Dortmund draw, Leverkusen win in German Bundesliga

BERLIN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Borussia Dortmund shared the spoils with Leipzig after a 1-1 stalemate meanwhile Bayer Leverkusen moved 2-1 past Wolfsburg at the 25th round in Bundesliga on Saturday.

The "BVB" lost their second place to rivals Schalke after dropping points following a 1-1 draw at Leipzig.

Both sides staged a lively opening period with chances at both ends of the pitch. Dortmund overcame Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi twice but the referee ruled both goals offside.

Leipzig made use of their next opportunity to shock the visitors with the opener through Jean-Kevin Augustin, who benefitted on Naby Keita's through ball to slot home at the half-hour mark.

Dortmund remained unimpressed and responded before the break as Marco Reus rounded Leipzig goalkeeper Gulacsi to restore parity with 38 minutes played.

After the restart both sides lacked in accuracy for the final pass. Hence goal-scoring opportunities remained a rare occurrence.

Michy Batshuayi had the best chance for Dortmund but the Chelsea loanee failed to slot home from promising position in the 63rd minute meanwhile Leipzig's Bruma squandered two golden chances in the closing period.

With the result, Dortmund slipped to the 3rd place whereas Leipzig stay on the 6th place of the standings.

Bayer Leverkusen extended Wolfsburg winless run to five games, as goals from Lucas Alario and Julian Brandt were enough to record 11th victory of the season.

The "Werkself" grabbed a bright start into the clash as Lars Bender pulled wide of the far post with just 19 seconds on the clock.

Heiko Herrlich's men controlled the reins meanwhile the "Wolves" came to their first chance with 17 minutes played when custodian Bernd Leno had to defuse Maximilian Arnold' s shot on target.

Wolfsburg helped Bayer Leverkusen to break the deadlock as Arnold felled Kai Havertz inside the box to cause a foul play penalty, which was converted by Alario, who sent Wolfsburg keeper Koen Casteels into the wrong corner in the 31st minute.

With the narrow lead behind Leverkusen retracted and let Wolfsburg do the work. However, the "Wolves" lacked in penetration and were unable to overcome Leverkusen's well-positioned defence within the first half.

Meanwhile Leverkusen fielded Julian Brandt, who doubled the lead eleven minutes later after his fielding by chipping the ball over onrushing Casteels in the 78th minute.

It was a short-lived joy as Wolfsburg reduced the arrears out of the blue when Admir Mehmedi marked his third goal of the season moments later.

However, Wolfsburg's hopes of a comeback were destroyed in the dying minutes of the game when William received his marching orders after booking his second yellow card.

With the win, fifth placed Leverkusen remain in touching distance to the top four while Wolfsburg sit on the 16th place and is fully struck in the relegation battle.

Elsewhere, Schalke edged Hertha Berlin on the sole goal from Marko Pjaca to climb on the 2nd place.

Eintracht Frankfurt remain in the top four after beating newly promoted Hannover on the goal from Danny da Costa.

Goals from Andrej Kramaric and Serge Gnarby were enough to secure Hoffenheim a 2-0 victory over Augsburg and relegation threatened Hamburg were held to a goalless draw by Mainz.

The following fixtures are scheduled for Sunday: Freiburg host runaway leaders Bayern Munich and bottom side Cologne face newly promoted Stuttgart. Enditem