Belief returning as Bayern climb to third in Bundesliga

BREMEN: Niko Kovac says the belief is starting to return to Bayern Munich after they claimed a second win this week to climb to third in the Bundesliga table after a 2-1 victory at Werder Bremen.

Bayern built on their 5-1 midweek thrashing of Benfica in the Champions League with Serge Gnabry scoring twice in Bremen to end a run of woeful results after going the whole of November without a league win.

Bayern lag nine points behind leaders Borussia Dortmund.

“The team believes in itself again and is firmly convinced that we can do it,” said Bayern head coach Kovac when asked if they can close the huge gap behind Dortmund.

“When everyone’s fit and playing for each other, in defence and attack, we are hard to play against and hard to beat.”

The last time Bayern were so far behind in the table was in 2010-2011 and their bid for a seventh straight Bundesliga crown is in danger after only their third win in their last nine league games.

Moreover, there is still huge room for improvement in defence as Bremen’s Japan striker Yuya Osako out-leapt Jerome Boateng to equalise before the half-time break before Gnabry’s second-half winner.

“We defended too passively, especially in the 10 minutes after we took the lead,” admitted Kovac.

“We have talked about things again and again but sometimes talking isn’t enough and you have to deal with things directly – we did that today.”

Gnabry, 23, has had a hand in Bayern’s goals in the last three games and was pleased with his brace but kept the celebrations muted against his former club Bremen, who he joined from Arsenal in 2016. — AFP

RESULTS

Stuttgart 1 Augsburg 0, Hanover 0 Hertha Berlin 2, Werder Bremen 1 Bayern 2, Borussia Dortmund 2 Freiburg 0, Hoffenheim 1 Schalke 1.

Leading standings: Borussia Dortmund 33, Borrussia Moenchengladbach 26, Bayern Munich 24, Eintracht Frankfurt 23, RB Leipzig 22.