BERLIN, Germany, May 04 – Borussia Dortmund ended Bayern Munich’s 14-match winning streak in the Bundesliga on Saturday as the warm-up for the Champions League final ended in a 1-1 draw.
For the first time since December, Bayern, who finished the match with 10 men, dropped league points, but both sides fielded just a handful of first-choice players set to start the Wembley final on May 25 — six from Dortmund and four from Bayern.
Although Bayern beat 1-0 Borussia in the German Cup quarter-finals in February, the Bavarians have failed to beat their rivals in six Bundesliga attempts — their last league win was back in February 2010.
Bayern had already been crowned Bundesliga champions four weeks ago and with Dortmund all but guaranteed second place, there was nothing more than bragging rights to play for at Signal Iduna Park.
An early goal by Dortmund wing Kevin Grosskreutz was cancelled out when Mario Gomez was left unmarked at the far post on 23 minutes and the Germany star headed Munich level.
The game burst into life after the break as Dortmund were awarded a penalty when Munich centre-back Jerome Boateng blocked a shot with his hand, but Manuel Neuer saved Robert Lewandowski’s spot-kick.
Bayern were reduced to 10 men for the final 25 minutes when right-back Rafinha was sent off.
During his tussle down the right with Dortmund midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski, the Brazilian thrust his elbow up into the Poland captain’s face for a straight red.
Blaszczykowski was also shown a yellow for remonstrating with the referee, while a heated discussion flared up on the sidelines between Bayern’s director of sport Matthias Sammer and Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.
Third-placed Bayer Leverkusen sealed automatic qualification for the Champions League with a 2-0 win at Nuremberg.
A first-half goal from defender Omer Toprak and a second-half penalty by Germany striker Stefan Kiessling sealed victory, while winger Sidney Sam fired a late penalty attempt wide for the visitors.
The win means Leverkusen are guaranteed to finish at least third.
Schalke 04 closed in on the Champions League play-offs with a 1-0 victory at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday which kept them fourth.
Eintracht Frankfurt captain Alexander Maier kept his side in the hunt for fourth with two goals in their 3-1 win at home to Fortuna Duesseldorf on Saturday.
With two games left, fifth-placed Frankfurt are three points behind Schalke and are all but guaranteed a Europa League spot ahead of their remaining games against Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg.
Werder are still locked in the relegation battle after throwing away a 2-0 lead at home to second-from-bottom Hoffenheim with substitute Svenn Schipplock scoring two goals in the last six minutes to rescue a point.
Already-relegated Greuther Fuerth picked up a shock win at 10-man Stuttgart — only their fourth victory of the season — as an own-goal from the home side’s Japan centre-back Gotoku Sakai and a late effort from Ilir Azemi sealed a 2-0 win.
The hosts had defender Antonio Ruediger sent off for a foul in the area on 74 minutes, but Stuttgart goalkeeper Sven Ulreich managed to save the resulting penalty.
In Saturday’s other game, Hanover 96 drew 2-2 with Mainz.
On Sunday, Augsburg can escape the bottom three with just a point at Freiburg while Hamburg host Wolfsburg.
