Leverkusen Lose Ground On Bayern Munich With Wolfsburg Stalemate

Bayer Leverkusen dropped eight points behind league leaders Bayern Munich after a scoreless draw at Wolfsburg on Saturday, setting up a potentially season-defining duel between the top two next weekend. Bayern's 3-0 win over Werder Bremen on Friday, their seventh straight league win, increased the pressure on Xabi Alonso's defending champions, who host the leaders next Saturday. Alonso named a weakened starting lineup with Florian Wirtz, Patrik Schick and Jeremie Frimpong all left on the bench after playing 120 minutes in Tuesday's extra-time German Cup win over Cologne.

Without their star trio, Leverkusen lacked fluency. Nordi Mukiele had a golden chance to put Leverkusen in front after 22 minutes, but headed over the bar while unmarked from point-blank range.

Wirtz and Frimpong came on after 60 minutes but the visitors had few chances despite dominating possession.

Wirtz went down in the box with 13 minutes remaining after some light contact prompting a VAR check, but the referee waved it away. 

The 21-year-old had a chance to snatch his side the win in stoppage time, but blasted just wide. 

Leverkusen have dropped four points in their past three league games, leaving their bid to defend their debut title on a knife-edge.

Conceding the eight-point gap to the league leaders was "much bigger than it should be", Leverkusen captain Lukas Hradecky said "this weekend hasn't made it easier for us to achieve our dream.

"With the way Bayern are at the moment, we can't have anything but a home win," Hradecky said of Bayern's visit next week.

His manager struck a different tone, saying he was "not overly worried" about the widening gap. 

"We'll have a bit of a break and start preparing on Tuesday. We're playing Bayern at home --