It shouldn't have happened. In spite of numerous good goalscoring opportunities and dominating the second half, FC Bayern could only manage a 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga match at SC Freiburg on Saturday afternoon. As direct rivals Borussia Dortmund secured a late 2-0 victory against VfL Wolfsburg, FCB slip from top spot and are now two points behind BVB.
"We're totally disappointed," declared Hasan Salihamidzic after the game. "We didn't have the right attitude, the one we've shown in our last matches," added the sporting director. After six wins in succession, including two runaway 6-0 victories against Wolfsburg and Mainz, the one point was not enough for the record champions. At the same time, Niko Kovac's team had sufficient opportunities to extend the winning run at Freiburg.
Only one Bayern goal despite domination
"The large number of chances created that we failed to convert – that's the annoying thing," was the critical response from the Bayern coach. After his team was caught cold with an early Freiburg lead through Lucas Höler they went on to dominate the match – 26 to 12 shots on goal, seven corners to one and 71 per cent possession for FCB says it all. However, with the exception of Robert Lewandowski's leveller on 22 minutes, FC Bayern were unable to find the back of the Freiburg net yesterday afternoon.
"We dozed off for the first five minutes," said Leon Goretzka who went incredibly close to scoring the winner for FCB. Unfortuneately, his header in added time (90+3') hit the woodwork. "You pass up so many chances that in the end you don't deserve to win," added the 24-year-old.
Show a reaction against BVB
Having suffered a setback in the title race, FC Bayern need to get over it as soon as possible. The fixture list presents Bayern with the opportunity to put it right next week. The current league leaders Borussia Dortmund visit the Allianz Arena for the latest edition of Der Klassiker (Saturday, 6 April, 18.30 CET). "We have to get over the disappointment of today and try to do better next week," said Kovac, setting out the way forwards.
"Of course, we're expecting a reaction against Dortmund. We have to take our chance," agreed Hasan Salihamidzic. A victory against BVB would put FC Bayern back on top of the Bundesliga. "I'm optimistic we'll end up top of the league," declared Sven Ulreich.
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