A spectacular laser show lit up the Allianz Arena as Bayern thanked the home faithful for their tremendous support in 2012, but FCB were unable to send their loyal fans home for the holidays with a win as the runaway Bundesliga leaders were thwarted by ultra-defensive Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday.
The 71,000 full house at the Arena saw Jupp Heynckes’ side start brightly enough but fall behind to a Thorben Marx penalty midway through the first half. It turned out to be Gladbach’s only shot before the interval, but the goal had an adverse affect on the home side, who also lost Javi Martinez to injury seven minutes from the break.
FCB poured forward after the restart and drew level on the hour when sub Xherdan Shaqiri struck a deserved equaliser, the Swiss starlet scoring his maiden goal in the Bundesliga. Heynckes’ men laid siege to the Gladbach goal after that but a combination of misfortune and Gladbach keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen meant the game ended in a draw.
A league record of 13 wins, three draws and just one defeat sees Bayern onto 42 points at the halfway mark in the campaign, 12 clear of Bayer Leverkusen and 15 ahead of Borussia Dortmund with the remainder of the weekend fixtures still to come. FCB’s final match prior to the mid-season break is the DFB Cup Round of 16 trip to Bavarian neighbours FC Augsburg next Tuesday.
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