German Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munich were humiliated by Werder Bremen with a 2-5 shock defeat on Saturday, while Schalke 04 elbowed out Frankfurt 1-0 to take the top seat at the league standings.
It was the biggest home defeat for Bayern since losing 4-0 to Arminia Bielfeld back in March 1979.
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Bayern Munich's Christian Lell (L) fights for the ball with Werder Bremen's Sebastian Boenisch during their German Bundesliga first division soccer match in Munich, September 20, 2008.? [Xinhua/Reuters] |
Bremen's Markus Rosenberg scored twice and Naldo, Mesut Oezil and Claudio Pizarro found the net to help the guest team sweep the home side 5-0 at one point, while Bayern merely saved face with two late scores from former Bremen man Tim Borowski in the 71st and 85th minute.
Bremen went on the offensive from the start in front of a 69,000 crowd in the Allianz Arena against an out-of-sorts Bayern and could have taken the lead on 18 minutes, Pizarro lobbing narrowly wide.
They deservedly went in front on the half-hour mark, Mesut Oesil brilliantly splitting the home defence for Rosenberg to slotthe ball past Bayern keeper Michael Rensing.
Minutes later it was 2-0, when Rensing pushed Oezil's free-kick onto the feet of Naldo, who just had to knock the ball over the line.
During the second half, Bayern coach Juergen Klinsmann brought on Borowski and Massimo Oddo, but it just went from bad to worse for the home side.
Diego put in Oezil for number three, and Rosenberg set up Pizarro to make it 4-0. And it was not over yet. Rensing, having a truly bad day, dropped a Diego cross, leaving Rosenberg with the easiest of chances to make it five.
Bayern's two late strikes saved them from complete humiliation, but it still left them on the wrong end of a home defeat unparalleled in recent times.
With the sweeping victory, Bremen issued the clearest possible signal of their title ambitions with this walloping of champions Bayern on their own turf.
"Unfortunately, we came up short of what was needed to win the game today," Bayern coach Juergen Klinsmann freely admitted after his first defeat as Bayern coach.
"We need to recognize that Bremen were the better team today, most of all because they were ruthless with their chances," he said.
"We're down at the moment, but we'll get back up again," he added.
Also on Saturday, Schalke 04 defeated 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 to move back to the top of the standings at least until Sunday.
Schalke have 11 points, SV Hamburg take 10 into Sunday's match at VfL Wolfsburg, Bayer Leverkusen have nine points, with Bremen, Munich, Hertha Berlin and Borussia Dortmund on eight points each.
Schalke were in full command against lowly Frankfurt but did not break the deadlock until Chris was sent off in the 34th for elbowing Heiko Westermann.
Newly-hired Jefferson Farfan got the winner seven minutes later but Schalke failed to impress.
Elewhere, Hertha Berlin won 1-0 at Borussia Moenchengladbach from Gojko Kacar's first half strike, with the home side's Oliver Neuville denied by the post twice. Arminia Bielefeld defeated Koeln 2-0.
Energie Cottbus got the first goal of the season, from Dennis Sorensen, but were held 1-1 by VfL Bochum to remain at the bottom of the table.
A hat-trick from Patrick Helmes helped Leverkusen to a 4-0 win over Hanover 96 on Friday, while the other Sunday games are VfB Stuttgart vs SC Karlsruhe and Hoffenheim vs Dortmund.
(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2008)