Bayer Leverkusen suffer setback to title hopes with goalless draw at Wolfsburg

Bayer Leverkusen will require an unprecedented comeback to catch Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich after playing out a goalless draw at Wolfsburg.

The hosts had a goal chalked off by VAR in the first half and a video review ruled out a potential penalty to Leverkusen after the break.

Wolfsburg midfielder Kilian Fischer came closest to an opener with a crossbar-clipping effort, and his side survived a late Leverkusen surge to ensure they picked up a valuable point.

Leverkusen extended their unbeaten streak away in the Bundesliga to 27 games, but now sit eight points behind Bayern.

Konstantinos Koulierakis nearly looked to have nodded Wolfsburg into an early lead, but a VAR check determined he had been fractionally offside in the build-up and denied the 21-year-old a first Bundesliga goal.

Wolfsburg let out a sigh of relief after Piero Hincapie dangerously flicked on a corner for the visitors, but at such speed that there was little fellow defender Nordi Mukiele, caught unawares, could do as it connected with his head and whizzed over.

The hosts looked the more threatening side at the midway point in the period, finding space and getting in behind, but unable to find the finishing touch despite Tiago Tomas calling Lukas Hradecky into action twice in quick succession.

Leverkusen finally broke back and it remained all to play for after Granit Xhaka curled an effort wide and had another nodded clear by Denis Vavro.

It was a similar story after the restart, when Xhaka directed an effort over, while Vavro was next to try for Wolfsburg, firing through a crowd straight into Hradecky’s arms.

Nathan Tella then found Victor Boniface 10 minutes later, but the Leverkusen striker could only connect with the outside of his boot and curl his shot away from goal.

Fischer came within inches of firing Wolfsburg in front when he caught the crossbar with a long-range effort, while Leverkusen were denied a potential penalty after a lengthy VAR check ruled there had been offside in the build-up.

A big Vavro tackle preserved the deadlock and soon the sides had less than five minutes of normal time left to make a difference.

Leverkusen came closer, but the spoils were shared after the ball narrowly evaded the outstretched toe of Emi Buendia, Florian Wirtz directed a close-range effort just wide, and Patrik Schick’s last-gasp effort was saved.