[GERMANY] A day after Bayern Munich's 13-game winning streak in all competitions ended with a 1-1 tie at relegation candidate Nuremberg, Bayer Leverkusen blew a chance to regain the outright lead in the Bundesliga when Per Mertesacker's late header forced it to settle for a 2-2 tie with Werder Bremen. The tie left Leverkusen ahead of Bayern on goal difference but did extend the club's league unbeaten streak to 23 games, tying the record for the best start to a season Bayern set during the 1988-89 campaign.

Jupp Heynckes was the coach of Bayern then and he is the coach of Leverkusen now.

"I let other people talk about the championship or the title," he said. "I think it's best at the moment to take each game and each opponent as they come. But of course, we are confident because the team is living up to its huge potential, showing that we can play soccer and we have also learned to defend."

Sort of ...

Leverkusen got goals on a free kick by Eren Derdiyok and a 25-yard blast from Toni Kroos, but goalie Rene Adler allowed a ball to slip through his legs and Claudio Pizarro poked it across the line for the first Bremen goal and Mertesacker rose above the Bayer defense to head in a cross from Marko Marin.

"That felt like a defeat," Bayer defender Manuel Friedrich said.