Bundesliga fans and pundits are losing their minds after Bayern Munich lost their first match across all competitions on Saturday.
Bayern followed up their yearly 2-0 defeat of Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday with a 1-0 upset loss to FC Augsburg, USMNT striker Ricardo Pepi’s old team.
Bayern has been winless in their last four Bundesliga game, though this is their first loss. They’ve performed much better in the Champions League, leading Group C with two wins over Inter Milan and Barca by a combined score of 4-0.
Could this simply be a case of the Bavarians over-focusing on the UCL?
Bayern is 1-3-1 in their last five Bundesliga games, still winning by an aggregate score of 11-5. They’ve also played quality German talent during those two of those ties in league-leading/Pefok-led FC Union Berlin and fifth-place Gladbach, only losing to out-of-form Augsburg after staging an energetic second-half rally against FCB earlier in the week. Bayern also looked tired in their 1-1 tie with VFB Stuttgart last week – again, after a mid-week UCL victory over a major European squad.
A break is probably all Bayern needs – they will likely bounce back from this slump and reclaim their top spot in the Bundesliga soon.
In the Champions League, they look a sure thing to waltz into the round of 16. They face the sure-to-be-eliminated Viktoria Plezn on October 4 in the UCL, followed by Gio Reyna’s Dortmund four days later in the Bundesliga.
Dortmund doesn’t have it much easier – they will face Sevilla on October 5 before taking on Bayern October 8.
Bayern can ride out the UCL excuse for a few more ties, but they will have to start winning again in the Bundesliga soon before the top spot becomes out of reach.
Featured Image: Pexels/Kelly/FCBayernMunich/DM
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