Lukas Podolski scored his first Bundesliga goal of the season to earn Bayern Munich a 1-1 draw away to Nuremberg to take the leaders a step closer to a 21st league title.

Nuremberg went ahead via a dream strike from Zvjezdan Misimovic late in the first half of the Bavarian derby, before Podolski came off the bench to give Bayern a valuable point on a day when none of the top sides could win.

With eight games left to play, Bayern remain seven points clear with 54 points from 26 matches. Hamburg SV are second on 47 after they snatched a 1-1 draw at home to Arminia Bielefeld in a match that saw both sides finish a man short.

David Jarolim's red card was the more noteworthy, as it came for grabbing the genitals of opponent Markus Schuler.

Schalke moved up to third on 45 after a 0-0 draw away to Karlsruhe in their final warm-up for Tuesday's Champions League clash with Barcelona.

Bayer Leverkusen lost 2-0 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt and slip to fourth on 44, ahead of Werder Bremen on goal difference after they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Duisburg, who moved out of the relegation zone having started the day in bottom place.

Bayern suffered a stinging 3-0 defeat away to Nuremberg in the first game of Ottmar Hitzfeld's second spell as coach, just under 14 months ago.

They have since re-established themselves as Germany's leading club and have their sights set on a treble of league, cup and UEFA Cup in what will be Hitzfeld's final season in charge before he goes on to coach the Swiss national team.

The short trip north to face Nuremberg is usually a tricky outing, though, and so it proved again on Saturday as Bayern failed to make the most of their early chances.

They should have gone ahead in the first minute when Luca Toni shot too close to the keeper after being put through by Ze Roberto.

Chances came and went before Nuremberg took the lead with a looping shot from the edge of the box from Misimovic. Jan Koller missed the chance to make it 2-0 before Podolski latched on to a through ball from Franck Ribery to score the equaliser.

It was a timely goal for Podolski, who complained this week about his lack of chances in the starting line-up and threatened to leave the club at the end of the season.

On a day of shocks, the biggest of all came at the Weserstadion, where Werder Bremen fell 2-1 at home to Duisburg and failed to complete a second-half comeback.

Duisburg's two goals were excellent. Ivica Grlic put them ahead with a beautifully struck free kick in the 32nd minute and Manasseh Ishiaku held off Naldo to make it 2-0 just before the break. Diego got his 12th of the season for Werder in the 58th minute.

Reuters