Leverkusen held by Gladbach

Andre Schurrle missed a penalty as Bayer Leverkusen drew 1-1 with Borussia Monchengladbach.

Andre Schurrle missed a penalty as Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 1-1 draw by Borussia Monchengladbach at the BayArena. In the battle of two of Germany's Europa League participants, both of whom drew 0-0 last Thursday, Leverkusen did everything but score more than their opponents, who collapsed after taking an early lead through Patrick Hermann. Michal Kadlec soon levelled for Leverkusen but they were unable to find a winner in almost 80 minutes of a one-sided game, including Schurrle's penalty miss in the 70th minute. Gladbach stunned the BayArena with a goal in the third minute scored by Hermann, who was put through expertly by Juan Arango and provided a delightful finish past Bernd Leno with the outside of his boot. Leverkusen hit back immediately and levelled in the 12th minute when Stefan Reinartz passed the ball to Kadlec and he picked his spot in the far corner of Marc Andre ter Stegen's goal, leaving the Gladbach goalkeeper no chance. The goal gave Leverkusen more belief and they started to take control of proceedings soon after. Stefan Kiessling saw a header cleared off the goalline by Filip Daems, who repeated his heroics to deny Schurrle on the follow-up. Schurrle missed another opportunity shortly before the break when he shot wide with only Ter Stegen to beat. It was the same story in the second half with the home side pushing for a second goal and Gladbach relying on Ter Stegen to keep them in the game. He denied Kiessling in the 56th minute before preventing Lars Bender from putting Leverkusen in front after an hour's play. It looked like Leverkusen were going to get their second goal when the referee awarded a penalty after Roel Brouwers handled the ball inside the penalty area, but Schurrle sent the spot-kick against the post in the 70th minute. There were still 20 minutes left for Leverkusen to find a winner, though. They kept on probing with Ter Stegen saying no every time, denying Sidney Sam in the 80th minute as the Foals somehow managed to hold on to a point.