Ambitious Borussia Moenchengladbach looked tired from their midweek demolition of Sarajevo in the Europa League and were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw at Freiburg on a goalless Sunday in the Bundesliga. Gladbach beat Sarajevo 7-0 to advance to the group stage this week but were a shadow of their attacking selves against Freiburg, who missed a penalty. Striker Branimir Hrgota, who scored a hat-trick against the Bosnians, was taken off midway through the second half.

Freiburg, better in the first half, could have scored but instead Admir Mehmedi thundered his 62nd minute spot kick wildly over the bar. The result was Gladbach’s second draw in two games since the league start last week. In the day’s only other game, Hanover 96 failed to replicate their scintillating form of last week — when they beat Schalke 04 — and drew 0-0 at Mainz 05 to climb to four points from two games.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich dropped their first points in a 1-1 draw at Schalke 04 on Saturday with Borussia Dortmund beating Augsburg 3-2 and fellow Champions League club Bayer Leverkusen staying top on six points with a 4-2 win over Hertha Berlin.

Despite having new signing Xabi Alonso in the Bayern team 24 hours after he joined on a two-year deal from Real Madrid, they looked far from their best as Schalke got their first point to snap a two-game losing run with a gutsy second-half performance. “At this moment in the season it is not possible to play over 90 minutes the way we played in those first 25 minutes,” keeper Manuel Neuer told reporters.

Bayern sign Kurt

German champions Bayern Munich signed talented 18-year-old midfielder Sinan Kurt on Sunday, luring him away from Borussia Moenchengladbach with a four-year contract.

Kurt, an attacking midfielder who is considered among the most talented young players in Germany and is an Under-19 international, was Bayern’s third signing this week.

Gladbach were unwilling to sell him but the player, whose contract ran to 2016, had repeatedly said he wanted to move to Munich.

Defender Mehdi Benatia and midfielder Xabi Alonso have also been signed as Bayern look to fill the gaps left by a string of injured players, including Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez.