Ahuvya blog

Bayern are no threat to Dortmund, insists Mueller

BERLIN (AFP) – Bayern Munich forward Thomas Mueller said on Sunday that Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund have nothing to fear from the defending champions after his team's shock 3-2 defeat at strugglers Cologne.

Despite their goalless draw with Schalke on Friday, Dortmund are 12 points clear at the top of the table, 15 ahead of Bayern.

The defending champions did themselves no favours as they threw away a 2-0 half-time lead to suffer a 3-2 defeat at relegation-threatened Cologne on Saturday, with striker Milivoje Novakovic scoring two second-half goals.

Bayern were left shell-shocked by the defeat, while coach Louis van Gaal sat stunned on the Munich bench long after the final whistle.

"It is hard to express how disappointed we are. Dortmund have absolutely nothing to fear from us at all," Mueller told German daily Bild.

"They can lose any games they want to and we also just throw points away. It was like we came out for the second half having taken sleeping tablets.

"We have just ruined out entire season. If we keep wasting our chances like that, we might as well talk about the relegation battle as much as the title hunt."

With Bayern's rivals Bayer Leverkusen also losing, 1-0 at Nuremberg, and Mainz drawing 1-1 with Werder Bremen after conceding a late equaliser, Dortmund's domination of the German league shows no sign of abating.

"Dortmund must be killing themselves laughing," said Bayern's chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

"They draw and pick up just a point and still move further away from us. On that performance, we will not achieve our goals. That was almost negligent."

Bayern host Hoffenheim next Saturday, while Dortmund visit mid-table Kaiserslautern.

Sunday's match between St Pauli and Hamburg in the north German derby was called off due to heavy rain, while Freiburg went sixth in the table after their goalless draw at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.

On Saturday, second-from-bottom Stuttgart came from 2-0 down to steal a 3-2 win at bottom side Moenchengladbach in dramatic fashion after Timo Gebhart netted an 87th-minute penalty.

Veteran Michael Ballack was left fuming after being substituted in the second half of Leverkusen's 1-0 defeat at Nuremberg, 24 hours after being left out of the Germany squad for next week's friendly against Italy.

Hanover are fourth and stayed in the fight for a European place for next season with a 1-0 win at Steve McClaren's Wolfsburg.

Ten-man Hoffenheim were given a fright at home as they beat Kaiserslautern 3-2 having held a 2-0 lead to go seventh.

Bremen's ex-Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro equalised in injury time to seal a 1-1 draw with Mainz which kept his team out of the bottom three.

On Friday, Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer produced an outstanding performance to earn Schalke 04 a point after a goalless draw at Dortmund with ten clear saves on a busy night.

With Germany set to face Italy in a friendly at Dortmund on Wednesday, Neuer boosted his chances of facing the Italians in the battle with Leverkusen's goalkeeper Rene Adler for Germany's number one shirt.