Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich lost their unbeaten record in Germany’s top tier this season in emphatic style on Saturday, going down 3-1 away to Borussia Moenchengladbach.
It is only the second time Pep Guardiola’s Bayern have lost this season after they went down 2-0 at Arsenal in the Champions League in October.
It was also Bayern’s first Bundesliga defeat since losing 2-1 at Freiburg last May as second-half goals by Oscar Wendt, Lars Stindl and Fabian Johnson left the Bavarian giants reeling.
Franck Ribery scored Bayern’s late consolation goal on his return after nearly nine months out with injury.
“It’s a pity, but it’s our own fault,” admitted Ribery.
“We will concentrate on the next game and hope to win,” he added as Ingolstadt can expect a Bayern backlash in Munich next Saturday.
Gladbach took a deserved lead when Raffael gave a return pass to Wendt and the Swedish international fired past Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer on 54 minutes. The hosts doubled their lead when Stindl volleyed home on 66 minutes.
There were scenes of pure joy amongst the home fans at Borussia Park when Bayern centre-back Jerome Boateng was caught out of position and Johnson sprinted away to launch a shot past Neuer on 71 minutes.
Bayern pulled a goal back nine minutes from time when Ribery marked his 300th game in the famous red shirt by scoring off the bench to celebrate his first game in 269 days following a persistent ankle injury.
This is the first time Bayern have conceded three goals since losing 3-0 at Barcelona in the first leg of last season’s Champions League semi-finals.
And their defeat leaves French champions Paris Saint-Germain as the only remaining unbeaten club in any of Europe’s traditional big five leagues.
For Gladbach, the victory continues their fairytale rise from bottom of the table to third as they remain unbeaten after 10 Bundesliga games under new coach Andre Schubert.
Dortmund close in
Second-placed Borussia Dortmund cut the gap on Bayern Munich to five points with a 2-1 win in a thrilling game at Wolfsburg. For the visitors, Marco Reus opened the scoring with a strike in the 32nd minute. Henrik Mkhitaryan provided the assist. Wolfsburg levelled things in the 90th minute from the spot with Rodriguez converting from 12 yards. However, Dortmund, desperate for a win, did not cave in as Japanese playmaker Shinji Kagawa scored in injury time to give the visitors crucial three points.
Ten-man Bayer Leverkusen warmed-up for their home clash with Champions League holders Barcelona on Wednesday by losing 2-1 at Hertha Berlin in the capital as Javier Hernandez netted what proved to be a consolation goal.
‘Chicharito’ scored his seventh goal in 12 league games for Leverkusen to cancel out Vladimir Darida’s early opening goal for Hertha at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.
Leverkusen were reduced to 10 men when centre-back Sebastian Boenisch was shown a straight red card with just 17 minutes gone for a brutal sliding tackle on Hertha’s 19-year-old left-back Yanni Regaesel.
Hertha scored their second through U. S. A. international John Anthony Brooks and the win left them fourth as Leverkusen drop to eighth.
Mainz are seventh after their 3-1 win at Hamburg while Mark Uth’s 96th-minute goal rescued a 1-1 draw for struggling Hoffenheim at Ingolstadt.
Augsburg escaped the bottom three with a 1-0 win at Cologne as Paraguay striker Raul Bobadilla fired in a second-half free-kick.
On Friday, Schalke broke their five-match winless streak with a 3-1 victory over Hanover 96 which left them sixth in the table.
The Royal Blues won their first league game since downing Hertha in mid-October with goals by Johannes Geis, from a penalty, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Franco di Santo.
>Monchengladbach 3 - 1 Bayern Munich
>Wolfsburg 1 - 2 Borussia Dortmund
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