Wednesday 19 December 2018 23:21, UK
Franck Ribery's late goal made it four successive Bundesliga victories for Bayern Munich as they battled to a 1-0 win over RB Leipzig.
The visitors, who have now failed to score on all three of their league visits to the Allianz Arena, could have leapfrogged their rivals into third with victory but succumbed to substitute Ribery's 83rd-minute strike.
Peter Gulacsi was unable to hold a shot from Renato Sanches and a hurried clearance fell to Ribery, who calmly cut inside before firing into the net.
Gulacsi had early made superb saves from Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich while Dayot Upamecano headed against the bar for Leipzig.
Both sides finished with 10 men after Stefan Ilsanker and Sanches were sent off in injury time. Ilsanker slid in recklessly on Thiago Alcantara and was shown a straight red, and Sanches followed him after reacting angrily and pushing the midfielder to the ground.
The three points moved Bayern to within six points of leaders Borussia Dortmund, who face second-placed Borussia Monchengladbach on Friday.
Eintracht Frankfurt missed the chance to climb above Leipzig as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Mainz. All the goals came in the first half, with Luka Jovic twice cancelling out strikes from Robin Quaison.
A point for Hannover in a 1-1 draw with Freiburg was enough to lift them off the bottom of the table at Nuremburg's expense.
Freiburg took the lead from the penalty spot in only the third minute through Gian-Luca Waldschmidt following Waldemar Anton's handball but Felipe equalised 11 minutes later and that was the way it stayed.
There was also a 1-1 draw between Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim, Theodor Gebre Selassie's second-half strike cancelling out Leonardo Bittencourt's opener.
Schalke's struggles continued with a 2-1 home defeat by Bayer Leverkusen.
Goals from Aleksandar Dragovic and Lucas Alario put the hosts two down inside 35 minutes and, although they had the majority of the chances thereafter, they only had Haji Wright's reply in first-half injury time to show for it.
