Luis Diaz scored and was sent off for a dive as Bayern Munich finished with nine men but held on for a draw against Bayer Leverkusen at BayArena.
Aleix Garcia gave Bundesliga top-four hopefuls Leverkusen the lead after six minutes, slamming the ball past goalkeeper Sven Ulreich via a deflection off former Bayer defender Jonathan Tah.
Bayern’s Tah had an equaliser disallowed for handball midway through the first half before team-mate Nicolas Jackson – preferred to fit-again top scorer Harry Kane – was shown a straight red card for a late challenge on Martin Terrier.
Kane was introduced from the bench shortly after the half-hour mark, but it was former Liverpool forward Diaz who levelled the contest eight minutes later when he latched on to Michael Olise’s pass before slotting past goalkeeper Janis Blaswich.
Bayern had a second man sent off when Diaz was deemed to have dived as he went past Blaswich in the penalty area after a Kane through ball, earning the Colombian a second yellow card with six minutes remaining.
In a frantic conclusion, Leverkusen thought they had retaken the lead three minutes into stoppage time when Jonas Hofmann beat Ulreich with a delicate lob, only for the 33-year-old to be ruled offside from Exequiel Palacios’ pass.
Ibrahim Maza had another effort disallowed four minutes later, with the Leverkusen midfielder deemed to have made contact with the ball after Ulreich had placed both hands on it.
Bayern’s closest challenges Borussia Dortmund beat Augsburg 2-0 on Saturday afternoon but are nine points adrift of Vincent Kompany’s side in the table with only eight games left to play.
Sixth-placed Leverkusen, meanwhile, missed the chance to move into the top four before Sunday’s meeting between fellow top-four hopefuls Stuttgart and Leipzig.
Kompany’s Bayern will look to confirm their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday when they host Atalanta – whom they beat 6-1 in their first encounter – in the last-16 second leg.
Leverkusen travel to face Premier League leaders Arsenal in the same competition on Tuesday evening, having drawn 1-1 with the Gunners in the first leg.
