Berlin: Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich suffered only their third defeat of the season on Sunday as they lost 2-0 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach, whose Brazilian striker Raffael scored twice.
It was Bayern’s first home defeat of the season and was only Gladbach’s third win in Munich in 47 league games, lifting Lucien Favre’s side back to third in the table.
Following a defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League’s group stages in November and a 4-1 thrashing at Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga in January, it was only Bayern’s third defeat in all competitions this campaign.
Despite the loss, Champions League quarter-finalists Bayern still hold a ten-point lead at the top of the table and are on course for a third straight league title.
“They barely got into our half before they scored their first goal and it’s not easy to break down a side who pack their defence,” said Bayern coach Pep Guardiola.
“We failed to break down their defence and they counter-attacked superbly.
“We still have a 10-point lead, but we must fight until the end to defend our title.”
Raffael, who turns 30 next Saturday, profited from a rare mistake by Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who failed to block the Brazilian’s long-range shot, which rolled into the Munich goal with half an hour gone.
Gladbach claimed their second on 77 minutes, when Germany midfielder Christoph Kramer squared for Raffael to fire his second past Neuer.
There was more bad news for Guardiola as Dutch winger Arjen Robben was forced off in the first-half and taken to hospital — he also missed last week’s win at Werder Bremen with a trapped nerve.
Earlier, second-placed Wolfsburg were held to a surprise 1-1 draw at mid-table Mainz after the hosts took a shock seventh-minute lead, when defender Niko Bungert out-jumped the visiting defence to head home from a corner.
Wolfsburg made their possession count as Brazil midfielder Luiz Gustavo hit the post, then scored their equaliser on 61 minutes.
