Hamburger 0 - 0 Borussia Dortmund - Dortmund draw blank in Hamburg

Struggling Hamburg frustrated Borussia Dortmund throughout a goalless draw at the Volksparkstadion to earn a priceless point in their battle against the Bundesliga drop.

Zoltan Stieber had Hamburg's best chance while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang went closest for the guests, whose four-game winning streak came to an end at a traditionally difficult venue for BVB.

The point keeps Hamburg above the bottom three at least until Paderborn play on Sunday while Dortmund strengthened their position in mid-table.

Marco Reus was surprisingly included in the Dortmund starting XI only days after picking up a dead leg which was feared to have been much worse, and he was at the heart of all of the visitors' moves.

He was also subject to plenty of fouls which would have tested how well his legs had indeed recovered in the past few days, but the only injury news affected a Hamburg player with Johan Djourou forced off after 18 minutes.

After a quick reshuffle, Hamburg started to attack with Mohamed Gouaida firing over from close range.

Minutes later, Gouaida brought a fine save out of Roman Weidenfeller before Jaroslav Drobny was brought into the action at the other end of the field to push Aubameyang's goalbound effort over.

That proved to be Dortmund's best chance of the game with Hamburg's following just after the interval.

Stieber, who had netted in Hamburg's last two matches, aimed for the left-hand corner with his direct free-kick, but a full-stretch Weidenfeller denied him, punching the ball behind for a corner.

Hamburg spent the rest of the game on the back foot, although Dortmund were unable to penetrate their defence with both sides having to settle for a draw.