Both coaches had opted for a rather surprising line up. Schalke coach Felix Magath fielded 18-year-old Joel Matip, who gave his Bundesliga debut appearance in the Allianz Arena. Louis van Gaal decided to field Holger Badstuber as left-back and thus Martin Demichelis and Daniel van Buyten made up Bayern's central defence. Dutch winger Arjen Robben took a seat on the bench at the start of the match.

Van Buyten on target again
The opening 15 minutes were relatively level. Bayern had more possession of the ball, but Schalke appeared dangerously in front of Hans-Jörg Butt's goal on two occasions following counter attacks. Kuranyi's attempt was denied by Butt superbly and just a few minutes later Farfan failed to control a ball inside the penalty area being completely unmarked.

With 16 minutes played, Bayern began to accumulate their first clear chances. Badstuber's attempt from close range was blocked. The following corner-kick saw Müller place a header just over the bar. Bayern controlled the match from here on, but failed to create real danger. Schalke continued to wait for counter attacks. Thirty minutes into the game, the fans were seeing an unexcited match. Then, out of nowhere, Badstuber's freekick caused great disorganisation in Schalke's defence and van Buyten was there to tap in the rebound. With this lead, the atmosphere in the Allianz Arena was rapidly lifted.

Newcomer equalises for Schalke
However, Schalke remained unimpressed and scored the equaliser before half-time also from a set piece. Schmitz released a well timed cross into Bayern's danger zone and 18-year-old, Bundesliga novice Joel Matip's header sailed against the inner side of the post and hence unstoppable for Butt into the back of the net. Seconds before the half-time whistle, Bayern failed to convert a ball from 2 yards away to take a lead into the break. Overall, the 1-1 half-time score was the deserved result, as neither team displayed their full potential here.

The second half began with both teams making one substitution. Robben came on for Toni and Schalke coach Magath decided to field Zambrano and thus sideline Höwedes. On the hour-mark, the game began to heat up, with both sides picking up yellow cards. Robben started to make a bigger impact on Bayern's game as he entered numerous feisty challenges with Schalke's Christoph Moritz.

Good match but few highlights
It was a good Bundesliga match now. There weren t many highlights but it was a well contested game. The intensity of this match was noticeable. Schalke continued with a more defensive approach, looking to launch counter attacks. Bayern stayed in most of the possession but acted too harmless when it came to play the final pass.

Bayern pushed during the final 15 minutes, but never really appeared dangerously in front of Schalke's goal. In the end, both teams picked up a point in this heavily contested match. Bayern continue to disappoint as they drop back into 8th place in the standings. Schalke remain in 4th place, but lose ground to table leaders Leverkusen.

FC Bayern: Butt - Lahm, van Buyten, Demichelis, Badstuber (64' Hamit Altintop) - Timoschtschuk, van Bommel, Schweinsteiger - Müller - Toni (46' Robben), Klose (75' Gomez)

Schalke: Neuer - Höwedes (46' Zambrano), Westermann, Bordon, Schmitz - Rafinha (70' Mineiro), Matip, Moritz - Farfan, Kuranyi, Sanchez (54' Pliatsikas)