The future of Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel is looking a bit brighter after his side held Bayern Munich to a goalless draw.

The 2007 champions ended a run of five consecutive defeats with a point against the 2008 league winners, who still managed to reduce the arrears on league leaders Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg to just three points.

Bayern came closest to winning with Luca Toni shining in the second half, but Louis van Gaal's side could not find a winner despite their efforts.

Van Gaal recalled Mario Gomez to his starting XI, trusting he would be particularly motivated against his former club. Toni was sacrificed.

Babbel brought former Bayern target Alexander Hleb into his starting XI despite the fact he has missed much of the season injured and was unable to make an impact on his comeback in the midweek cup defeat to Greuther Furth.

This game was regarded as Babbel's last chance to save his job and his team seemed motivated early on.

A sweeping Thomas Hitzlsperger cross reached Christian Trasch in the right-hand side of the penalty area and his shot was tipped over the crossbar from Hans-Jorg Butt.

Gomez was jeered each time he touched the ball and an aimless pass out of play brought even further derision from the fans who, for the last three years, had worshipped him.

The nearest he came to scoring what would have been only his fourth goal of the season came just two minutes before the interval, when he fired his angled shot into the side-netting.

Stuttgart started the second half in a similar manner to the first with Roberto Hilbert's header being tipped over the crossbar by Butt from a deep Arthur Boka cross.

Toni was only inches away from putting Bayern ahead just seconds after coming on midway through the first half, but he could not quite reach Edson Braafheid's cross from the left and Jens Lehmann grabbed the ball with a degree of relief.

The Italian striker missed his next chance moments later when he met Bastian Schweinsteiger's corner with his shoulder and the ball spun just wide of the post from close range.

Toni made a difference with the game becoming a monologue with Bayern searching desperately for a winner.

They thought they had got it in the 86th minute when Toni touched a Philipp Lahm cross past Lehmann and in, but the assistant's flag denied him his second goal of the season and Bayern more than a point at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.