Bundesliga: Bayern Munich take advantage of rare Xabi Alonso slip-up

Bayern Munich somehow escaped from the BayArena with a point to remain eight points clear at the top. Vincent Kompany praised his team's defending, but Bayern also had Xabi Alonso to thank.

"The system doesn't matter; it's just a picture," insisted Xabi Alonso when asked about lining his Bayer Leverkusen team up in what looked like, and turned out to be, a bespoke 4-2-2-2 formation against Bayern Munich.

And why was that formation also striker-less, with Nathan Tella and Jeremie Frimpong forming the front two ahead of Victor Boniface or Patrik Schick? "Because we have the possibility of deciding the game like this."

Fair enough. Alonso's tactical tweaks in all five of his previous games against Bayern Munich, from back-fours to Florian Wirtz as a false nine, had born fruit.