German Bundesliga: Leverkusen stuck with stalemate

Bayer Leverkusen were frustrated in their search for three points on Saturday as they were held to a goalless draw by Mainz at the BayArena.

Leverkusen missed the opportunity to move up to fourth in the Bundesliga as a mixture of poor finishing, wastefulness in front of goal and some fine saves from Loris Karius left them with just a point.

That appeared to be all that Mainz had come for, and it keeps them within two points of their hosts, in among a group of clubs on 15 points from 11 games.

Shinji Okazaki had an appeal for a penalty turned down as Mainz more than matched their hosts early on.

The Japanese forward fell to the ground with Emir Spahic appearing to raise his arm to trip him after falling down himself, but no penalty was given.

Leverkusen then started to take control of the game with Hakan Calhanoglu delivering a perfect free-kick for Stefan Kiessling, who headed Leverkusen's best chance of the first half wide.

Kiessling then shot straight at Karius as another chance went begging for the Werkself.

Karim Bellarabi missed the target on the hour mark before going even closer to breaking the deadlock minutes later, but Karius made a great save to keep Mainz in the game.

The Mainz custodian made a spectacular save to deny Calhanoglu before Robbie Kruse had an effort blocked by Niko Bungert.

Try as they might, Leverkusen could not find a way past the last line of the Mainz defence with their fans just as frustrated at the final whistle.