Battered Bayern out to stop the rot

Jurgen Klinsmann’s bruised and battered Bayern Munich face Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday desperate to restore some respect after heavy defeats against Wolfsburg and Barcelona.

Tuesday’s 4-0 rout at the Nou Camp on top of last weekend’s 5-1 drubbing by Bundesliga leaders Wolfsburg has left the German giants reeling, and no place to hide.

With club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge conceding Bayern’s Champions League hopes lay in tatters the aim now he said was to qualify for next season’s competition.

“What I want to say is that we must now concentrate on our next match against Frankfurt on Saturday. We have to react after this second heavy defeat in a row.

“We have no more hope in the Champions League, that is obvious,” he said.

“Now we have to concentrate on the Bundesliga and at least make sure of our place in this competition (for next season).”

German media are speculating on Klinsmann’s future as coach after a rocky first season.

“Klinsi close to the exit door,” was the headline in Bild who described Wednesday’s loss as “a night of shame at which Klinsmann was a powerless spectator”.

The paper added: “If the directors don’t fire him straight away it’s obvious that his job will be on the line for each league game.”

Klinsmann has come out fighting, insisting he still had control of the locker room and that his job now was to overhaul the three points Bayern trail joint-leaders Wolfsburg and Hamburg.

“Time is beginning to count but I’m a fighter and I tell myself that I have to lead from the front.

“Now we have to regroup and concentrate fully on the league. It’s not going to be easy to digest this result, but we must do everything to catch up these three points (that separate Bayern from leaders Wolfsburg) and become champions.”

Victory over mid-table Frankfurt would go some way to steadying a ship that has leaked nine goals in its past two games.

Klinsmann’s fourth-placed side certainly can’t afford to slip up with Wolfsburg, winners of their last eight league matches, favourites to take all three points in their away trip against relegation strugglers Borussia Moenchengladbach.

“We are under pressure now. We absolutely must win against Frankfurt,” Bayern’s France international Franck Ribery conceded.

Martin Jol’s Hamburg, who lie second on goal difference only, face a tough assigment on Sunday at fifth-placed Stuttgart.

Hertha Berlin, one point clear of Bayern in third, will fancy their prospects of keeping the pressure on the leaders at Hanover 96, who are hovering three points above the drop zone.

Fixtures

Saturday

Borussia Moenchengladbach v Vfl Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt, Hanover 96 v Hertha Berlin, Schalke 04 v Karlsruhe, Hoffenheim v Vfl Bochum, Energie Cottbus v Arminia Bielefeld, Borussia Dortmund v FC Cologne

Sunday

Bayer Leverkusen v Werder Bremen, Stuttgart v Hamburg