Leverkusen Warm up for Barca by Beating Bayern
Bayer Leverkusen warmed up for their Champions League clash at Barcelona with a 2-0 home win against Bayern Munich on Saturday, as the Bavarians' poor form continued.
The hosts took the lead on 79 minutes when ex-Germany striker Stefan Kiessling tapped the ball home from two yards after Swiss forward Eren Derdiyok's overhead kick took Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer out of the game.
Midfielder Karim Bellarabi, 21, had been on the pitch just eight minutes when he supported Gonzalo Castro's break to slot home Leverkusen's second and claim his first goal for Bayer.
"My team demonstrated a great attitude, they really wanted to win and we earned it because of the second-half performance," said Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt.
Leverkusen are at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium on Wednesday, needing to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash.
Victory keeps Leverkusen fifth in the league, but with leaders Borussia Dortmund hosting mid-table Mainz on Saturday night, the defending champions can open a seven-point gap if they pick up their eighth straight win.
Third-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach can usurp Bayern from second place in the league if they win at Nuremberg on Sunday.
Bayern's form has deserted them since Christmas and this was their sixth defeat in the league in total, while they have won only four of their last nine games this year.
They face a make-or-break few weeks and have to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg of their last-16 tie against FC Basel on March 13 in the Champions League, before a German Cup semi-final at Gladbach on March 21.
"We played really well in the first half and created lots of good scoring chances, which we didn't take," said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes.
"That's the crux of our problems at the moment. It was the same for us in Basel.
"It can also happen that the chances go in against you when you don't take your own, which is a real pity for my team.
"The result is very disappointing for us all, but we only have ourselves to blame."
The Bavarians are bidding to avoid a repeat of last season, when they finished in the rare position of having won no silverware.
There is also evidence of disharmony in the team as defender Jerome Boateng and midfielder Thomas Mueller engaged in a second-half shouting match on the pitch.
Stuttgart are eighth in the table after they earned a 4-0 win at Hamburg.
Hertha Berlin finally broke their seven-match losing streak with a 1-0 win over Werder Bremen as coach Otto Rehhagel, who steered Greece to the Euro 2004 title, enjoyed his first win in only his second game in charge.
Schalke's ambitions of winning a first Bundesliga title suffered a dent as they fell 2-1 at Freiburg, which lifted the hosts off the bottom of the table.
The Royal Blues finished with 10 men as Greece defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos was sent off after earning a second yellow card towards the end of the second half.
Kaiserslautern are now bottom of the table after their goalless draw with VfL Wolfsburg, while Augsburg are 16th after their 2-2 draw at Hanover.
Coach Marco Kurz has been given a vote of confidence by Kaiserslautern boss Stefan Kuntz, but his team's situation is becoming increasingly precarious and only four points separate the league's bottom four teams.
Source: Agence France Presse
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