Bayern Munich lost further ground on Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen after being held to a 1-1 draw at home by Schalke on Saturday.

Daniel van Buyten put the home side ahead in the 31st minute, but Marvin Matip equalised for Schalke just before the break.

And Louis van Gaal's side could not find a winner as they disappointed again at the end of a week in which their hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League were dealt a hammer blow by Bordeaux.

This result will do little to ease the pressure on Van Gaal. It saw Bayern slip to eighth in the table, six points behind leaders Leverkusen, while Schalke remained in fourth.

Schalke had a glorious opportunity to ahead in the fifth minute when Kevin Kuranyi shook off Martin Demichelis, but Hans-Jorg Butt made a fine one-handed save to deny him.

The Royal Blues certainly weren't resting on their laurels and they played the ball around with plenty of confidence in the early stages.

Bayern slowly reacted, but were unable to create any chances of note until Van Buyten put them ahead in the 31st minute.

He was the beneficiary of a fortunate rebound from Holger Badstuber's free-kick and needed to only stick out his leg to divert the ball home and put the home side in front.

Bastian Schweinsteiger came close to adding a second in the 42nd minute with a direct free-kick which missed the top corner by a matter of inches.

And they were punished as Matip brought the visitors level a minute later, heading Lukas Schmitz's free-kick beyond the reach of Butt into the far corner.

Van Gaal brought Arjen Robben on for Luca Toni for the second half, but while his substitutions in recent games have brought the desired results, this time the change gave his side no new impetus.

In fact, it was Schalke who came the closest to winning the game in the 69th minute.

Schmitz stole in behind the Bayern defence but was prevented from finding a team-mate in the centre by Butt as Bayern were held to a second successive draw.