The proverbial Lord Mayor's show in Stuttgart was followed by the dustcart in Hamburg: three days after a rousing triumph in the cup, Bayern returned to earth with a bump on Friday evening, opening the second half of the Bundesliga season with a defeat. The champions' unlucky 1-0 reverse away to Hamburger SV brought an end to a run of 17 competitive games without defeat, and also meant Munich missed out on the chance to go top of the standings.
"Disappointment and anger are the first things you feel, because we came here confident of a result," coach Jürgen Klinsmann reflected, as the majority of the 57,000 full house at the Nordbank-Arena celebrated after the final whistle. A 44th-minute Mladen Petric header was enough to seal "an avoidable defeat,“ as Karl-Heinz Rummenigge put it, causing FCB to slip to fourth in the table behind not only Hamburg, but also Hertha BSC Berlin and leaders Hoffenheim, both winners on Saturday.
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