Wolfsburg miss out on third as Bayern lose again

Ten-man VfL Wolfsburg missed their chance to go third in the Bundesliga with a 2-1 defeat at Karlsruhe on Sunday after defending champions Bayern Munich suffered their second consecutive league defeat.

Having smashed minnows Oberneuland 7-0 in the German Cup in midweek, Wolfsburg suffered their first defeat in 10 games after Karlsruhe midfielder Massimilian Porcello curled in a free-kick on 51 minutes to take a 1-0 lead.

Wolfsburg’s problems were compounded when their Brazilian striker Grafite was shown a second yellow card on 71 minutes when he barged Karlsruhe goalkeeper Markus Miller off the ball.

The home side went 2-0 up on 75 minutes when striker Sebastian Freis netted before Wolfsburg’s Portuguese defender Ricardo Costa scored a consolation goal with a header on 79 minutes.

“The game was there for the taking,” said Wolfsburg boss Felix Magath.

“In the first half we played well, but missed our chances.

“The goal we conceded put us on the back foot and from there we just couldn’t win the game.”

A win would have put Wolfsburg third in the table behind leaders Hamburg and second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, but defeat leaves them eighth.

A late equaliser by Eintracht Frankfurt meant they finished the weekend second from bottom of the table after holding Arminia Bielefeld 1-1 at home.

And there were worried looks at Bayern Munich after the defending champions slumped to their second consecutive league defeat when they went down 1-0 at Hanover on Saturday which left them ninth in the table.

Having been hammered 5-2 at home by Werder Bremen the week before, Jurgen Klinsmann’s side were again poor as Hanover midfielder Szabolcs Huszti drove his free-kick into Bayern’s net on 23 minutes.

“I’ve noticed how many teams are ahead of us, and it annoys me,” said Bayern manager Uli Hoeness ahead of his side’s Champions League clash with Lyon on Tuesday.

“We should put a lot of effort into making sure it doesn’t stay that way for very long. We were much too careless.

“We were totally in control for the first 20 minutes, but we let them seize the initiative with a stupid goal from a free-kick. Thankfully we have our next game on Tuesday against Lyon.

“We can use it to test ourselves at the European level and hopefully find our rhythm, so we play better in the league than we have done recently.”

A first-half header by Croatian striker Mladen Petric was enough to give Hamburg a 1-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach to put them top of the table.

There was some crazy football for ten-man Werder Bremen as midfielder Mesut Oezil hit the winner for the home side in a 5-4 victory over Hoffenheim which put his side third in the table ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash at Inter Milan.

Bayer Leverkusen are second in the table thanks to their 3-2 win at struggling VfL Bochum.

The home-side were 3-0 down but with 10 minutes left they scored twice in as many minutes to ensure a dramatic finish.

Borussia Dortmund are up to fifth thanks to an impressive 3-0 win at home to VfB Stuttgart to seal their first win in five games.

Energie Cottbus picked up their first win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Hertha Berlin to lift themselves off the bottom of the table.

On Friday, Schalke 04 yielded the top spot with a shock 1-0 win at Cologne and drop to fourth in the league.