Julian Ryerson gave the visitors the perfect start with a goal in the fifth minute after Dortmund intricately worked the ball inside the box for his perfect run.

But from then on, it was defend or die for Dortmund as Xabi Alonso's unbeaten hosts threw everything at Edin Terzic's side.

After banging on the door for almost 80 minutes, and having a brilliant goal from Florian Wirtz chalked off by VAR when Victor Boniface was caught in an offside position during the build-up, Leverkusen finally broke through to level matters.

It was Boniface that tapped in after Patrik Schick –continuing his remarkable comeback from injury – found space in the box minutes after coming off the bench to tee-up his strike partner perfectly.

Both sides had chances to win in the final 10 minutes, most notably Niclas Fullkrug, who headed over the bar from close range deep into stoppage-time.

With 23 attempts to Dortmund's 6, and a lopsided corner count of 16-1 in its favour, Leverkusen might have hoped for all three points, but Mats Hummels marshalled Dortmund's defence superbly to secure a point and keep his side inside the top five.

Leverkusen remains top, three points clear of Bayern Munich, but the champions now has a game in hand after its scheduled match with bottom side Union Berlin was postponed becauase of heavy snow in the Munich area on Saturday (AEDT).