German giants look for some respite in Bundesliga
BERLIN: Germany's Champions League quartet aims to rebound from their historic mid-week meltdown on the continent when they return to domestic Bundesliga action on the weekend.
League leaders Bayern Munich crashed 3-2 at Manchester City, Schalke were embarrassed 5-0 at home by Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund went down 2-0 at Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen lost 1-0 against Monaco as all four German sides lost for the first time in the elite event on one matchday.
While Munich, Dortmund and Leverkusen were already assured of last 16 berths ahead of their games, the results were nonetheless a harsh wake-up call for the land of the world champions.
Munich had the least reason for concern as they dominated City with 10 men and only suffered their first season defeat in all competitions because of late individual mistakes from Xabi Alonso and Jerome Boateng. Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola said he was “very, very proud” of his team and added “maybe it's a good lesson for us, because if something like that happens in the round of 16 or the quarter-finals, you're out.”
Bayern's clear aim is reaching the Champions League final in June in Berlin's Olympic stadium.
They will play in the arena for the first time this season tomorrow when they visit lowly Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga where they command the standings seven points ahead of Wolfsburg.
Fourth-placed Leverkusen host regional rivals Cologne while situation is far more precarious for Dortmund and Schalke.
The 2011 and 2012 champions Dortmund are third bottom, and it could be a bad sign that they have now also dropped their first points in the Champions League in addition to their Bundesliga struggles.
Dortmund visit 12th-placed Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday with just one victory from their last nine league games. That 1-0 against Moenchengladbach was followed by a 2-2 draw, after leading 2-0, at Paderborn and the Arsenal defeat – as hopes of a badly needed turnaround ended.
Defender Matthias Ginter spoke of “a step back” this week and coach Juergen Klopp said that “what we need is results and not the prefect football.”
Sports director Michael Zorc said: “So far, we haven't been able to win a game in the Bundesliga after winning in the Champions League, let's hope it's the other way around this time.”
Schalke coach Roberto di Matteo could meanwhile only “apologise to the supporters for the performance we put in” during the Chelsea debacle.
The seventh-placed Royal Blues have their third home game in eight days tomorrow against midtable Mainz as Di Matteo appears to have the same problems making the team consistent as his predecessor Jens Keller.
The Chelsea meltdown came a few days after an impressive 3-2 Bundesliga win over Wolfsburg.
Elsewhere, bottom club VfB Stuttgart also hope for improvement under coach Huub Stevens, who saved them from the drop late last season and is now back in charge in succession of Armin Veh who stepped down this week.
Stuttgart open the round today at regional rivals Freiburg. Tomorrow sees Augsburg against SV Hamburg, second bottom Werder Bremen versus Paderborn, Hoffenheim at home to Hanover.
Arguably, the top match of the weekend sees second-placed Wolfsburg hosting third-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach. – Sapa-dpa