Bayern Munich held goalless

Bayern Munich edged a point clear at the top of the Bundesliga on Sunday as they had to settle for a 0-0 draw away to Hertha Berlin in a tense match at the rebuilt Olympic [Images] Stadium.

Bayern, looking to take full advantage of surprise defeats for Schalke 04 and VfB Stuttgart on Saturday, were nervous in the first half of a game that provided Hertha's first sell-out crowd of 74,500.

They took control of the game in the second half and almost snatched a win when Owen Hargreaves smacked the post with a shot from 30 metres 10 minutes from time.

A draw gave Bayern 38 points from 19 matches and put a little daylight between them and second-placed Schalke, who have 37 points after losing 2-0 at FC Kaiserslautern on Saturday.

Stuttgart are third on 34 points following their 4-2 defeat at home to FC Nuremberg, with Bayer Leverkusen in fourth with 32 points after winning 4-0 against visiting VfL Bochum.

Champions Werder Bremen moved up to fifth as they held on to beat Hansa Rostock 3-2 on Sunday.

The referee due to take charge of the Bayern game was withdrawn before kickoff to avoid any suspicion after he was named in connection with the country's betting scandal.

Hertha were howling at his replacement, Lutz Wagner, after what looked to be a goal from Nando Rafael was ruled out for offside in the ninth minute but it was the linesman who made the call.

Hertha continued to put pressure on the Bayern defence but Oliver Kahn had another faultless game in goal.

The introduction of Paolo Guerrero at halftime gave more bite to the Bayern attack and the Peruvian came close to an opening goal shortly after coming on when he glanced a header from Mehmet Scholl's free kick just wide.

Hargreaves let fly with 10 minutes to go but his shot was kept out by a combination of the post and the goalkeeper and Hertha managed to hold out.

"There weren't many chances because Hertha have two strong lines of defenders," said Bayern coach Felix Magath. "It was a good, fast game, though. Hertha were better than us in the first half but after the break we had more of the game."

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