Hard times: Harry Kane shows his disappointment as Bayern lose 3-2 at Bochum (INA FASSBENDER)
Bayern Munich slumped to a shock 3-2 loss at lowly Bochum on Sunday, suffering a third successive defeat for the first time since 2015 and leaving them eight points behind Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga title race.
The result followed a 3-0 league defeat to Leverkusen last weekend and a 1-0 loss against Lazio in the Champions League as coach Thomas Tuchel came under renewed pressure.
Tuchel was bullish after the match, saying “the loss today wasn’t justified. We were extremely unlucky.”
Bayern were also reduced to 10 men with 13 minutes remaining when Dayot Upamecano elbowed Kevin Stoeger in the box, picking up a second yellow, giving away a penalty and seeing red for the second match in a row.
Stoeger blasted the penalty past Manuel Neuer to give Bochum a 3-1 lead.
Harry Kane scored with three minutes remaining to get Bayern back into the match and even had a chance to equalise late, but directed a tame header straight at Bochum goalkeeper Manuel Riemann.
Bayern had beaten Bochum 7-0 in three of their past five meetings and the visitors scored early, Jamal Musiala blasting in after 14 minutes.
It was the German champions’ first goal in over three hours of football.
Kane had a chance shortly after when one-on-one with Riemann but skied his shot into the stands.
Tuchel lamented his side’s wastefulness in attack, telling DAZN “we had more than enough high-quality chances which those guys would normally put away.”
The home side absorbed waves of Bayern pressure before Takuma Asano levelled after 38 minutes, shooting a low shot past Neuer on a counter attack.
Bayern fell behind just six minutes later, Keven Schlotterbeck heading in a corner.
The visitors turned the screws early in the second-half but the match was delayed for 12 minutes by fan protests against the Bundesliga’s investment plan, after which Bochum held their own against the German giants.
With just over 10 minutes remaining, Upamecano clashed with Stoeger contesting a corner and was sent off.
In teeming rain, Stoeger hit his penalty low and hard to the right, past Neuer’s outstretched hand.
Bayern’s teenage forward Mathys Tel set up Kane after 87 minutes, getting Bayern back into the match but then Kane wasted a golden chance to seize a last-gasp point.
Stoeger said: “It’s an enormous relief. We thought we could get a point and we got three.”
“I think all of Bochum is proud of the performance we delivered.”
Bochum coach Thomas Letsch added: “To win against Bayern is especially nice, given they’re a team stacked with talent.”
– Freiburg, Frankfurt draw –
Earlier on Sunday, Freiburg forward Michael Gregoritsch scored in the last minute to snatch his side a 3-3 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Two goals from Ansgar Knauff, both set up by the impressive Omar Marmoush, who also got on the scoresheet, had Frankfurt on course for three points.
The visitors however failed to clear a corner and the 1.93-metre-tall Gregoritsch headed past Kevin Trapp to level the scores for Freiburg for the third and final time.
A frustrated Trapp told DAZN “we’re shooting ourselves in the foot”.
“It went back and forth, which is a shame for us. We could have taken more out of it.”
Frankfurt’s Marmoush scored first, but Freiburg’s Ritsu Doan hit back just three minutes later on the half-hour mark.
Marmoush’s superb pass allowed Knauff to score on the counter but the match was level again by half-time thanks to a penalty from Italy midfielder Vincenzo Grifo.
Knauff again put Frankfurt in front after 72 minutes before Gregoritsch came to the rescue.
In another match interrupted as fans threw objects on the pitch, Knauff then saved Frankfurt in the ninth minute of added time when he cleared a bouncing ball off the line.
The point moves Frankfurt four clear of Werder Bremen in sixth-place, the last European spot.
dwi/dj
