Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Bayern Munich

LEADERS BAYERN MUNICH held on for a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen despite finishing with nine men in an eventful Bundesliga clash on Saturday.

Second-placed Borussia Dortmund’s comfortable home win at Augsburg drew them nine points behind reigning champions Bayern with eight games to play.

Aleix Garcia’s goal gave Leverkusen the lead and Bayern striker Nicolas Jackson saw red before half-time.

Luis Diaz levelled things up but picked up a second yellow card for diving in the box.

Bayern held firm to grab a point, even as Leverkusen had two efforts chalked off in stoppage time.

Bayern also had strikes from Jonathan Tah and substitute Harry Kane ruled out by VAR for handball in a sometimes manic match at the BayArena.

Garcia finished off a fluid team move to put Leverkusen ahead six minutes in, the Spain midfielder collecting a Patrik Schick pass and chipping the ball over Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich.

Former Leverkusen centre-back Tah looked to have levelled things up midway through the first half when he found the net from a corner, but VAR intervened.

Bayern’s hopes took a further hit when Jackson saw red for sinking his studs into Martin Terrier’s ankle just before the break.

With 30 minutes left, Bayern brought Kane on as a substitute after his recent absence with a calf knock and the England captain thought he had scored just 47 seconds later, but again VAR spotted a handball.

Diaz finally grabbed Bayern a leveller when he guided a pin-point Michael Olise pass in with 69 minutes gone.

With six minutes to play, the Colombian went down in the box under light contact from Leverkusen ‘keeper Janis Blaswich and was shown a second yellow for diving.

Bayern dug deep despite their numerical disadvantage in the dying stages to cling on for a point.

Dortmund inched closer to Bayern with Karim Adeyemi and Luca Reggiani both getting on the scoresheet in a 2-0 home win over Augsburg.

Adeyemi gave Dortmund the lead in the 13th minute, turning in a Maximilian Beier pass from close range.

Stodgy and uninspired in beating a 10-man Cologne last week, Dortmund showed fluency in attack, but Adeyemi and Beier took turns in hitting the crossbar before the break.

Just before the hour mark, 18-year-old centre-back Reggiani headed in a Julian Ryerson corner for his first Bundesliga goal.

Serie A: Inter Milan 1-1 Atalanta

Inter Milan suffered another wobble in their bid to reclaim the Serie A title after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Atalanta, who bounced back from Champions League humiliation against Bayern Munich.

Nikola Krstovic earned a point for Atalanta by scoring in the 82nd minute at the San Siro, cancelling out Pio Esposito’s angled drive after 26 minutes for the hosts who had looked to be extending their league lead to 10 points.

But Inter coach Cristian Chivu and his players were livid at Krstovic’s goal being awarded after what they saw as a push on Denzel Dumfries by Kamaldeen Sulemana, whose saved shot led to the leveller.

Chivu was sent off for his vehement protests against the officials in a heated end to what had up to that point been a humdrum affair in soaking wet Milan.

Dumfries held his head in his hands when referee Gianluca Manganiello pointed to the centre circle to give the goal which handed AC Milan the chance to move to within five points of their local rivals.

Home fans were again outraged moments later when Davide Frattesi went down looking for a penalty under a challenge from Giorgio Scalvini, who tapped his Italy teammate’s foot and was cleared of committing a foul.

No-one from Inter spoke to media after the game in protest at the decisions.

Milan, who prevailed in their local derby with Inter last weekend, travel to Rome to take on Lazio on Sunday night and can reignite a title race which looked as good as over a week ago.

A fighting point for Atalanta came after Tuesday’s humiliating 6-1 defeat by Bayern in the Champions League, a competition for which they are just about in contention to qualify for this season.

Atalanta, who have to face Bayern in Munich on Wednesday, are four points behind Como and Roma who are separated by goal difference in fourth and fifth and face off on Sunday.

Juventus, a point behind Roma and Como, can move into the top four with a win at Udinese in Saturday’s late match.

La Liga: Atletico Madrid 1-0 Getafe

Nahuel Molina scored a spectacular long-range strike as Atletico Madrid scraped a 1-0 win over Getafe in La Liga on Saturday to cut the gap to the top two.

Getafe were reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Abdel Abqar was sent off for appearing to pinch Atletico’s Alexander Sorloth in a sensitive area.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone rotated his line-up ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League last 16 second leg trip to Tottenham, but was still able to secure a sixth win in the last seven matches across all competitions.

The Rojiblancos, third, moved within six points of second-place Real Madrid, who host Elche later on. League leaders Barca, fourth points clear of Los Blancos, host Sevilla Sunday.

Defender Molina’s superb strike, lashed into the top corner from over 25 yards out after eight minutes, was enough to split the teams at Atletico’s Metropolitano stadium.

It was a more taxing clash than their rollicking 5-2 victory over Tottenham in midweek.

Sorloth could have doubled Atletico’s lead but nodded Alex Baena’s cross against the post at the end of a razor-sharp counter-attack.

Getafe’s afternoon took a turn for the worse when Moroccan defender Abqar was dismissed for grabbing at Sorloth’s crotch, with the angry Norwegian striker throwing him to the floor.

Despite Atletico’s numerical advantage the visitors had the better of the second half and created good chances to equalise.

Mauro Arambarri fired narrowly over when in on goal and Atletico goalkeeper Juan Musso made a fine late save to push away Adrian Liso’s header in stoppage time.

– © AFP 2026