Schalke hold Bayern after Dortmund and Elversberg rally to wins

Promoted Schalke battled to a 0-0 draw against champions Bayern Munich while Borussia Dortmund and surprise newcomers Elversberg claimed impressive comeback victories from two goals down in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Schalke denied Bayern an 11th straight win against them with firm defence and man-of-the-match goalkeeper Loris Karius who made big saves against Nathaniel Brown early on and Harry Kane in the closing stages.

As a result, Bayern dropped to fourth with four points, behind Freiburg, Dortmund and Elversberg who all have a maximum six.

Leaders Freiburg won 1-0 in Paderborn, Dortmund 3-2 from 2-0 down at Hoffenheim and Elversberg 4-3 at Borussia Mönchengladbach after trailing 3-1.

Schalke deny Bayern

Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer returned to his stadium of his former club for probably the last time in the Bundesliga as the 40-year-old has suggested that the season will likely be his last.

Neuer was booed by the fans but had little to do on the evening as Schalke counterpart Karius took centre stage. 

Bayern coach Vincent Kompany dropped star forwards Kane and Michael Olise from the starting XI and Bayern had trouble against a well-organized Schalke defence. Ismael Saibari aimed high and Luis Díaz failed to get off a controlled shot in front of Karius.

Bayern's pressure grew with Kane introduced for the second half and Olise and Jamal Musiala - back after suffering absence seizures in two pre-season friendlies - following on the hour.

Konrad Laimer hit the side-netting while Olise and Díaz were blocked at the last instance and Karius then denied Kane a late winner to let the Schalke fans celebrate the stalemate like a victory.

"Loris made big saves. That was the key why we didn't win the match. We also had a period where we weren't positioned well," Neuer told Sky TV.

Looking at Thursday's Champions League opener against Bodø/Glimt and the next Bundesliga task at Elversberg, he added: "Youi don't have we have to take it game by game. We want to start well into the Champions League and we know what to expect at Elversberg."

Schalke's newly signed full-back Robin Gosens said: "I am enjoying it. We ran the extra metre, we knew it would be difficult. We managed to keep our stability over the 95 minutes. We managed to make life difficult for Bayern."  

Dortmund fight back

Dortmund trailed 2-0 from a stunner by Leon Avdullahu into the top corner on the stroke of half-time and Tim Lemperle's deflected effort in the 54th after he robustly dispossessed Joane Gadou.

But Serhou Guirassy chipped over Oliver Baumann in the 61st, set up substitute Fabio Silva for the equalizer five minutes later, and an own goal from Albian Hajdari off a cross by newly signed Ethan Nwaneri in the 87th gave them full points.

The win should give Dortmund morale ahead of their Champions League opener on Tuesday against Villarreal.

"We are at home but we have to take Villarreal seriously and must be much sharper. Then we can beat them. But if we play like the first 50 minutes today it will be difficult," Dortmund coach Nico Kavac told streaming portal DAZN.

"We adapted after their second goal. We know you have to fight back in the Bundesliga, you can't play sloppily. We made a few tactical changes and played make-or-break. It got better but not top. We had a little luck with the late own goal."

Elversberg heroics

Elversberg followed up on their opening success against Bayer Leverkusen in Mönchengladbach despite trailing 3-1 when Joe Scully added Gladbach's third after a first-half brace from Hugo Bolin.

But Maurice Krattenmacher pulled one back in the 66th, Felix Keidel sent a free-kick into the top corner for a 80th-minute equalizer, and Krattenmacher capped the comeback with a stoppage time winner.

The only damper for the newcomers was a red card for coach Vincent Wagner, who will miss the next match against Bayern.

Leipzig lose, Leverkusen win

RB Leipzig meanwhile lost 3-1 at Werder Bremen in a bad rehearsal for their Champions League opener at Como on Thursday.

Eren Dinkçi gave Bremen an early lead, returning Germany striker Niclas Fülllkrug headed the second in the 68th and Marco Grüll wrapped up matters in the 80th. Ridle Baku's goal in stoppage time came too late for Leipzig.

Bremen rebounded well from a big opening defeat in Freiburg, who for their part remained perfect thanks to Maximilian Eggestein's 1-0 winner at promoted Paderborn.

Leverkusen thrashed Union Berlin 4-0. Ezequiel Fernández opened the scoring after just over 40 seconds and Facundo Medina, Patrik Schick and Ibrahim Maza got the others.

The Sunday fixtures are SV Hamburg v Mainz and Eintracht Frankfurt v Augsburg. VfB Stuttgart beat Cologne 4-1 on Friday.