Bayern Munich Fall To Third Defeat In A Week Against Hannover 96

Louis van Gaal’s worst week as Bayern Munich manager continued on Saturday, as his side were beaten 3-1 by Hannover 96 at the AWD Arena. Van Gaal may not have to worry about the state of Bayern for too much longer though, as there are many rumours floating around that he will be sacked in the next few days.

Hannover struck first in their battle to claim Champions League football next season, Mohammed Abdellaoue putting the hosts ahead after sixteen minutes. They scored again shortly after halftime as Konstantin Rausch made it 2-0, only for Arjen Robben to pull the defending champions back into the game on fifty-five minutes with a close-range header. However, Bayern’s hopes of getting level didn’t last long -- goalkeeper Thomas Kraft misjudged a speculative chip from Sergio Pinto, punching it up and over his head into the net. Any remaining chance the Bavarians had disappeared with Breno’s sending off for throwing Lars Stindl to the ground on seventy-three minutes. Bayern are now four points behind Bayer Leverkusen the final Champions League place; Jupp Heynckes’ side host Wolfsburg in the late kickoff.

Elsewhere, the relegation battle has become decidedly more competitive as wins from VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Mönchengladbach mean that the bottom seven places are separated by just six points. Schalke 04’s Benedickt Höwedes was sent off and conceded a penalty, which was scored by Zdravko Kuzmanovic to give Stuttgart the win, while a Filip Daems spot-kick and a goal by Igor De Camargo were enough for ‘Gladbach to claim a 2-0 win. Four goals from Christian Eigler gave FC Nürnberg a 5-0 win over a woeful St. Pauli, and Eintracht Frankfurt still haven’t scored in 2011 as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Kaiserslautern.