Bayer Leverkusen vs. Bayern Munich: Winners and Losers from Bundesliga
Bayern Munich remained eight points clear atop the Bundesliga after playing out a scoreless draw at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
The visitors had the opportunity to increase their lead to 10 points following Borussia Dortmund's draw at Hertha Berlin earlier in the day, but Pep Guardiola's men were unable to find a breakthrough in a game of few chances.
Bayern finished the match with 10 men after Xabi Alonso drew a red card in the second half for his second bookable offense.
Here, Bleacher Report selects winners and losers from the encounter.
Winners: Jonathan Tah and Omer Toprak
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In a scoreless draw, it's a good bet that the star or stars of the match will come from the defensive third. That's the case here, with Bayer Leverkusen's center-back duo of Omer Toprak and Jonathan Tah standing out.
First, we should note that Leverkusen kept a clean sheet against Bayern Munich, which is no small thing. After that, let's take a look at the stats, because they paint a nice picture of what happened.
Per WhoScored.com, Toprak won four aerial duels, blocked three shots, made three clearances and intercepted two passes. Tah added five tackles, three clearances and three aerial duels won.
In other words, the two were immensely at the heart of Leverkusen's back line—which is exactly what you saw if you watched the match. Both mopped up danger repeatedly for their side with last-ditch tackles and timely interventions. If either had missed the match, it's likely Leverkusen would have lost handily.
Loser: Thomas Muller
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Thomas Muller was a surprise omission from the starting lineup, but that's a story for another time. When he did enter the match, the Germany international had two big chances to win it for Bayern. He missed both.
In the 64th minute, Kingsley Coman burst down the right and pulled back for Muller, who volleyed over the bar. One minute later, Douglas Costa burned his marker on the opposite flank and cut back for Muller, who was completely unmarked. Once again, though, the 26-year-old forward fired well wide of the target when you'd normally expect him to score.
If he'd buried just one of those chances, Bayern would be 10 points clear. This just wasn't Muller's day.
Winners: Kingsley Coman and Douglas Costa
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Bayern experienced an uncharacteristically low-key day in the attacking third. But when they did threaten Leverkusen's goal, the threat usually came from the flanks, from one of Kingsley Coman or Douglas Costa.
Both players tormented Leverkusen's full-backs with searing speed and nifty ball skills. The main problem for Bayern was that their crosses found teammates infrequently. And when they did—namely those two chances for Muller—the finishing was wasteful.
But that's the great thing about pace: Except in the case of injury, it's not subject to form. Next time out, Coman and Costa will still be fast, and they'll most likely cause lots of problems for the full-backs attempting to defend against them.
Loser: Roberto Hilbert
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Sensing the need for a change, Leverkusen manager Roger Schmidt introduced Roberto Hilbert as a substitute for Tin Jedvaj in the 50th minute. Big mistake.
Although Jedvaj struggled to deal with Coman's pace and trickery on Leverkusen's left, he at least tried to limit the Bayern attacker with a physical approach. Hilbert was just plain helpless, completely unable to keep up with the speed of Bayern's attacks.
Neither choice was all that appealing, but Schmidt should have stuck with Jedvaj.
Loser: Pep Guardiola
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Wait a minute, you say. Bayern are still eight points clear atop the league. Why is Pep Guardiola listed a loser here?
Simply for this: Since he took over in 2013, Guardiola is winless in four matches at Leverkusen. In four matches, he has lost once and drawn three times, with Bayern scoring just once along the way.
On this day, Schmidt did a good job frustrating his illustrious opponent with a strategy that emphasized high pressing. The hosts weren't content to sit back and allow Bayern to camp out in their half, and for large stretches of the game, the Bavarians struggled to create chances.
Pep and Bayern will almost surely win yet another league title this season, but playing Leverkusen away is something of a trap game for them.
