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Even giants fall: Great many things for Bayern to learn, says Sammers

Bundesliga leaders succumb to first league defeat of season to Gladbach

Afp December 06, 2015 1 min read

Ribery scored a goal in his first appearance for the club in nine months but, unfortunately, also had to witness his side give up their 13-game winning run. PHOTO: AFP

BERLIN: Bayern Munich’s director of sport Matthias Sammer says the Bundesliga leaders must learn to keep their cool after suffering their first German league defeat of the season at Borussia Moenchengladbach.

The Bavarian giants lost their unbeaten record in Germany’s top tier when they suffered a shock 3-1 defeat at Borussia Park which cut their lead to five points.

It is only the second time Pep Guardiola’s Bayern have lost this season having gone down 2-0 at Arsenal in the Champions League in October.

It was also Bayern’s first Bundesliga defeat since losing 2-1 at Freiburg last May.

Second-half goals by Oscar Wendt, Lars Stindl and Fabian Johnson left the Bavarian giants reeling before Franck Ribery scored Bayern’s late consolation goal on his return after nearly nine months out with injury.

“We have to learn that victories are not self-evident and that includes keeping calm even when there are set-backs in a game,” said Sammer.

Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said his team lost their composure.

“We lost our control after they went 1-0 up and they started to couter-attack,” said the Spaniard. “We have to be able to learn from this game that we should never allow that to happen. It’s not unusual for us to concede a goal, but after that we also lost our control and our order.”

Ribery rued Bayern’s missed chances in the first half with his side missing injured stars Arjen Robben, Douglas Costa, David Alaba and Thiago, but still fielded 11 internationals.

“It’s a pity, but it’s our own fault. We have to keep a cool head,” said the former France international. “We could have been two or three goals up, but Gladbach did well and took all their chances. We will concentrate on the next game and hope to win.”

For Gladbach, the victory continues their rise from bottom of the table to third as they remain unbeaten after 10 Bundesliga games under new coach Andre Schubert, who praised his side’s ‘sensational performance’.

“We had a bit of luck, but were very brave and had a lot of self-confidence after going 1-0 up,” said Schubert. “But the fact Bayern would be dangerous until the last minute was obvious.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2015.

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