Bayern Munich have avoided punishment for having 12 players on the pitch for 17 seconds of their 4-1 Bundesliga win against Freiburg on Saturday.

The fourth official showed the wrong number on the board, which meant Kingsley Coman did not know he was supposed to come off in a late change.

The German Football Association (DFB) ruled the incident was the fault of the officials and not Bayern’s.

Leaders Bayern are nine points above Borussia Dortmund with six games left.

The incident occurred when Niklas Sule and Marcel Sabitzer both came on in the 86th minute, but only Corentin Tolisso came off.

The officials were quickly alerted of the mix-up and there was a long delay amid lots of confusion while it was sorted out.

Freiburg lodged an appeal against the result, with German football rules stating that any team that fields 12 players is punished with the loss of the game and any points, but it has been turned down.

“The DFB sports court has decided Bayern Munich cannot be blamed for the introduction of a non-eligible player,” the DFB said in a statement.

“It is more down to the mistaken behaviour of the officials that a 12th man was introduced and the game continued.”

Coman, Sabitzer, Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry were on target as Bayern, who are chasing a 10th title in a row, took advantage of Dortmund’s defeat by RB Leipzig to extend their lead at the top.