Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich were frustrated on the road and had to settle for a solitary point at Cologne.
Lukas Podolski opened the scoring for Cologne in the 32nd minute against his former team with his first goal since September 2009.
Bastian Schweinsteiger equalised for Bayern in the 58th minute, but Munich twice hit the woodwork in the final 30 minutes as they searched in vain for a winner.
The draw extended Bayern's unbeaten streak to 18 games but Louis van Gaal's team could only move to 53 points. They remain in top spot but will drop to second place if Bayer Leverkusen win on Sunday.
Cologne, who drew last week at Leverkusen, improved to 27 points to sit in 13th place - seven points from the relegation zone.
Bayern, starting the game without Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, dominated the proceedings for the first five minutes but watched Podolski nearly give Cologne the lead in the seventh minute, blasting his left-foot shot against the crossbar from 22 yards.
Cologne keeper Faryd Mondragon had to make a fine save 13 minutes later from Daniel van Buyten's free-kick.
Podolski finally returned to the scoring column with a free-kick from 25 yards after 32 minutes, though Bayern keeper Hans-Jorg Butt was at fault as he badly misjudged the ball and could only fist the shot into his own goal.
Bayern dominated the second half and equalised 13 minutes after the restart. Miroslav Klose's backheel went to Thomas Mueller, who chipped the ball over Mondragon towards the spot, where Schweinsteiger blasted home the equaliser.
Schweinsteiger nearly hit his second goal just six minutes later but his header struck the underside of the crossbar just in front of the line.
Cologne appeared to have regained the lead with 16 minutes left but goalscorer Podolski was offside.
And Munich were denied again in the 85th minute as Ribery could only find the right post from 15 yards.
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