League leaders Bayern leave it late to beat Hamburg
BERLIN: With their coach’s job on the line, Hamburg SV players responded with a tenacious performance to hold Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich scoreless for 88 minutes before losing 1-0.
Just when it seemed Bayern would drop their first points of the season, Franck Ribery crossed for Joshua Kimmich to seal the side’s eighth successive win across all competitions.
Carlo Ancelotti is the first Bayern coach to win his first eight matches.
In contrast, Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia was under pressure ahead of the game after garnering just one point from four matches, and criticism from club chairman Dietmar Beiersdorfer following defeats to promoted sides Leipzig and Freiburg.
“There is no coach who is not the loneliest person in the world in such situations. It’s nothing special. It’s the fate of a coach,” Labbadia said before the game.
His players largely frustrated Bayern’s much-vaunted forwards before the break, when they were applauded by the appreciative home fans, and goalkeeper Rene Adler produced a string of saves to keep Hamburg level after the interval.
Bayern defender Mats Hummels went off with an apparent knee injury early in the second half, to be replaced by Jerome Boateng, before Ancelotti brought on Ribery and Arturo Vidal for Kingsley Coman and Renato Sanches with half an hour remaining.
Ribery, who was fortunate not to be sent off for pinching Nicolai Mueller in the face, made the difference after being played through by a wonderful pass from Thiago Alcantara. The French winger crossed for Kimmich to score at the far post.
Bayern visit Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.
In the other match, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez scored a hat-trick for Bayer Leverkusen to come from behind for their second win of the season.
Yunus Malli scored against his former club in the 31st minute, Chicharito equalised a minute later and Stefan Bell restored Mainz’s lead four minutes after that.
Chicharito claimed his second midway through the second half and the Mexico forward sealed the win in injury time.
Borussia Moenchengladbach’s Lars Stindl scored against Ingolstadt shortly before the interval. Gladbach missed a number of chances to seal the win before Oscar Wendt finally did so with around 15 minutes remaining.
Jamaica defender Michael Hector scored in injury time to salvage a late draw for Eintracht Frankfurt.
Hertha Berlin captain Vedad Ibisevic converted a penalty to give the visitors an early lead, but Marco Fabian equalised with a fine finish and Frankfurt captain Alexander Meier added another before the break.
Ibisevic equalised before the hour-mark, minutes before Alexander Esswein scored with a finely curled shot inside the far post, only for Hector to have the final say.