German Bundesliga: No goals in Freiburg v Hamburg

Freiburg and Hamburg remain in the midst of a Bundesliga relegation battle after sharing a 0-0 draw at the Dreisamstadion.

Freiburg paid the price for missing an early penalty through Vladimir Darida in the second minute as they were held at home.

Hamburg's coach Josef Zinnbauer said before the game that he would be happy with a draw since that would keep his team ahead of their hosts - and that is exactly what he got with his team showing little in attack.

Freiburg could have taken the lead within two minutes when Ronny Marcos was adjudged to have fouled Felix Klaus in the area, even though the Freiburg midfielder appeared to be falling to the ground before any contact was made.

Darida has become Freiburg's first-choice penalty taker since Admir Mehmedi missed earlier this season - but after scoring four in a row, he was denied by Jaroslav Drobny.

The Hamburg goalkeeper, whose last penalty save was in January 2010, managed to keep the ball out with his trailing arm.

It proved to be the only chance of the first half too, with the game dominated by both defences and with plenty of tackles and fouls - typical of a relegation scrap.

It was a similar story in the second half with neither side wanting to give an inch, although a bit of luck nearly led to Hamburg taking the lead when Nicolai Muller's cross took a deflection and brushed the crossbar.

Hamburg then had an appeal for a penalty waved away when a cross struck Jonathan Schmid on his arm.

As the game wore on it looked increasingly unlikely that either team would make the breakthrough - and so it proved.

With Dortmund losing, Freiburg did at least move out of the bottom three. Hamburg remained two points ahead of their hosts.