German Bundesliga: Augsburg and Schalke goalless

Augsburg delivered all the good news they had prior to the beginning of their goalless draw with Schalke, a result which helps neither side in their respective quests for a place in Europe.

The Bavarians announced that coach Markus Weinzierl and director of sport Stefan Reuter had extended their contracts with the club before the teams walked out at the Augsburg Arena.

The news did not appear to give the hosts all that much inspiration, though, as they battled out a 0-0 draw which was a fair result, even if not the one the two rivals wanted.

Weinzierl was rewarded for leading Augsburg to their best ever season last year and most likely even better this time by signing on until 2019, with Reuter committing to an extra year at the club.

The news was met by arguably the biggest cheer of the afternoon as the game never managed to take off.

Joel Matip's header from six yards brushed the outside of the post while a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar effort gave Marwin Hitz some work to do in the Augsburg goal.

Ralf Fahrmann had to intervene during a scramble at his near post which Raul Bobadilla threatened to bundle over the line but, apart from those incidents, there was little to write home about.

Both teams, who were and remain separated by one point, cancelled each other out for large parts of the game with neither showing the sort of ambition one might expect from sides hoping to represent the Bundesliga in Europe next season.

A small scuffle on the touchline just before a miserly one minute of stoppage time was announced was the only other highlight of a game which clearly the officials were also keen to end as soon as possible.

The draw leaves Schalke one point ahead of Augsburg, but now eight adrift of fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen and a place in the Champions League next season.