Why Josip Stanisic was allowed to play for Bayer Leverkusen against Bayern Munich despite being on loan from them

The Bundesliga title race is very much a two-horse race with two of the biggest clubs in Germany contesting the title.

Of course, Bayern Munich are in the conversation as you might expect, being the biggest and best-supported team in Germany.

And with the acquisition of a certain striker called Harry Kane last summer after his long-awaited departure from Tottenham Hotspur, his goals have helped to put Bayern firmly in the conversation for both the Bundesliga title and the Champions League.

However, Bayer Leverkusen are the other contenders this season under former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso and have been a revelation.

In fact, Die Werkself are unbeaten so far this campaign in the Bundesliga and last night maintained that run with a remarkable 3-0 victory over Bayern at the BayArena.

Josip Stanisic put the hosts ahead before 20 minutes, with Alex Grimaldo adding a second early in the second half.

And Jeremie Frimpong put the result truly beyond doubt in injury time when he netted after Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had come up for a late corner in a bid to reduce the deficit.

The 3-0 victory has opened a five-point gap at the top of the Bundesliga between the two sides, with Alonso's men sitting at the summit and on course for a first-ever German top-flight title.

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Another notable aspect of the game was the situation of the opening goalscorer Stanisic, who is in fact on loan from Bayern at Bayer Leverkusen for the season, but the defender was able to play against his parent club.

In British football, it is a given that loan players and ineligible to play against their parent clubs should they come up against them.

But as Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel discussed after his side's defeat, it appears this rule does not exist in Germany.

He said: "In England, there's a nice rule where when you loan a player out, they can't play against you. For me that makes more sense.

"I experienced it often in my career, that a player comes back to haunt the team - the rule unfortunately doesn't exist in Germany. Today we were the ones to suffer from this.

"I saw Stani earlier and congratulated him, but he's a Bayer Leverkusen player now. That's all I can say."

It is not totally unheard of, as in 2020 Phillippe Coutinho was on loan at Bayern from Barcelona, and scored twice for the German side as they thrashed his parent club 8-2 in the Champions League quarter-finals on their route to European Cup glory.