Bayern beaten in Dortmund as slump continues

Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga slump continued on Sunday when they suffered their second straight league defeat as they were beaten 2-0 at second-placed Dortmund.

After Bayern lost 2-1 to new leaders Mainz last weekend, this was Louis van Gaal-coached Munich’s third defeat of the season from seven games and leaves them 12th in the table – 13 points from the leaders.

“We didn’t make the most of our chances, especially in the first-half,” fumed Bayern captain Mark van Bommel.

“We made life difficult for ourselves.

“It’s nonsense to say we couldn’t stand the pressure, our mistakes led to the goals.

“Dortmund didn’t get better during the game, we just got worse.

“Anyone who doesn’t want to fight for us needs to get off the pitch.”

Dortmund took the lead when striker Lucas Barrios scored his fourth goal of the season after he pounced on a loose ball and his shot took a deflection off defender Holger Badstuber’s foot and into the back of the net on 52 minutes.

Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin compounded Bayern’s misery when he curled in a freekick on 60 minutes.

Barrios nearly claimed his second when he beat Bayern’s goalkeeper, but the ball rebounded off the goalpost on 69 minutes.

“It will be difficult to pull the points back, but we have to believe in ourselves,” said van Gaal.

Dortmund stay second and with 18 points and this is their sixth straight victory.

Bremen held Leverkusen to a 2-2 draw as they made amends for last week’s 4-0 hammering at Inter Milan in the Champions League last week.

Leverkusen took the lead when Germany striker Patrick Helmes, who has been left out of the squad for this month’s Euro 2012 qualifiers, scored his second goal in three league games when he netted in the 16th minute.

Werder Bremen equalised when striker Hugo Almeida scored from a free-kick on 53 minutes and Germany winger Marko Marin getting the winner in the 62nd-minute.

Leverkusen equalised when Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok scored in the 78th minute.

The result leaves Bremen 13th in the league and Leverkusen fourth.

Earlier, ten-man Stuttgart suffered their sixth Bundesliga defeat from seven on Sunday as they were beaten 2-1 by Frankfurt.

The guests took the lead when veteran Greece striker Theofanis Gekas scored with a header on 18 minutes before Brazilian defender Chris scored the second from a corner on 68 minutes.

To compound Stuttgart’s misery, captain Matthieu Delpierre was sent off on 84 minutes when he let his frustrations get the better of him as he tackled Frankfurt’s Patrick Ochs and hacked the ankle long before the ball.

The hosts fought hard in the hectic closing stages as Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scored his fifth goal of the season for Stuttgart less than a minute after Delpierre’s dismissal.

The result is Stuttgart’s third straight league defeat and their sixth of the season and their next league game is against second-from-bottom Schalke on October 16.

On Saturday, minnows Mainz equalled the record for most wins at the start of a Bundesliga campaign with their seventh victory as they hammered 10-man Hoffenheim 4-2 to maintain their perfect record.

Dark-horses Mainz are only the third side after Kaisterslautern and Bayern Munich to have won all seven matches at the start of the season and their young guns ran riot at home to Hoffenheim.

They host Hamburg in their next league game on October 16 for their chance to make Bundesliga history with an eighth win.

Freiburg are up to fifth in the table after their 3-2 win over Cologne on Saturday and Hamburg are seventh after they came from behind to beat Kaiserslautern 2-1.

Schalke’s dreadful start to the season continued at Nuremberg as they suffered their fifth defeat when they went down 2-1 to stay second from bottom.

Ex-England manager Steve McClaren was denied his fourth straight win when his side were held 1-1 by Moenchengladbach.