Leverkusen holds Schalke to 1-1 draw in Bundesliga

BERLIN -- Schalke remains winless for the 13th straight game after Juan Miranda's own goal canceled out Daniel Caligiuri's opener at the close of the 31st round in Bundesliga on Sunday.

Schalke almost secured a perfect start on home soil but Leverkusen's goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was on guard to deny Weston McKennie with just two minutes played.

Leverkusen spent some time to gain a foothold into the game and came to its first chance in the 22nd minute when McKennie had to nod Lucas Alario's effort over the bar.

Hradecky remained busy at the other end of the pitch as he parried Caligiuri's shot before Sven Bender blocked the follow-up shot from Nassim Boujellab at the half-hour mark.

Leverkusen opened the scoring through Alario in the 40th minute, but his goal was ruled offside.

After the restart, the "Royal Blues" caught a bright start into the second half as Edmond Tapsoba's handball inside the box allowed Caligiuri to break the deadlock from the penalty spot in the 51st minute.

The "Werkself" turned up and responded well as Schalke custodian Alexander Nubel defused Nadiem Amiri's shot before Alario's header missed the target just wide four minutes later.

Schalke was unable to free themselves out of their territory while Leverkusen was producing more promising chances through Kevin Volland and Ozan Kabak.

The visitors got eventually rewarded for their late onslaught in the 81st minute when Barcelona loanee Juan Miranda accidentally turned in Wendell's cross to level the scores.

"We did not play very well today. We not only created few chances, we generally played poorly today," Bayer Leverkusen's head coach Peter Bosz said.

With the result, Schalke climbs on the ninth place whereas Leverkusen jumps to fourth in the Bundesliga standings.

Elsewhere, Augsburg snatched vital points in the relegation battle after beating Mainz 1-0 by courtesy of Florian Niederlechner, who scored with just 43 seconds into the match.