Three Defeats in Eight Days: Munich's Bayern at Risk of Trophy Drought this Season
Multiple-time German champions, Munich's Bayern, find themselves in a serious slump. The team suffered three consecutive defeats within eight days: first, they lost to their main title rival, Bayer Leverkusen, 3-0, then faced adversity in the Champions League, losing the first leg of the round of 16 to Lazio with a score of 1-0, and on Sunday, they suffered another stinging defeat in the league to Bochum with a score of 3-2, as reported by BBC.
Consequently, the Munich club is at risk of ending a season trophyless for the first time in many years. Last August, Bayern failed to win the German Super Cup. Then in December, the team was eliminated from the German Cup, sensationally losing to FC Saarbrücken from the Third League. In the Champions League, Bayern currently sits fourth on the bookmakers' list of favourites, so serious hopes for victory in this tournament shouldn't be held. In the Bundesliga, the team is already eight points behind the top spot.
In the recent match against Bochum in the German league, Bayern was an undisputed favourite - in the last encounter between these opponents, Munich easily won 7-0. However, this time, Bochum made it clear from the outset that the favourite wouldn't have an easy walk, creating several dangerous moments early in the match. Although Bayern opened the scoring first with a goal from Jamal Musiala, Bochum scored two goals before half-time to take the lead. In the second half, the teams exchanged goals - Kevin Stöger scored from a penalty to make it 3-1 after Dayot Upamecano was sent off for Bayern, and towards the end of the game, English forward Harry Kane scored one goal and set the final score at 3-2 in favour of Bochum.
Bayern's head coach Thomas Tuchel said after the game that winning the Bundesliga at the moment "doesn't look very realistic." However, the optimism of the Munich coach remains intact.
"Last season we believed until the end, and we were rewarded. So, we will continue to work on it," said Thomas Tuchel, recalling that in the previous championship, Munich secured the title in the final minutes of the final round.
The management of the Munich club, despite the poor results this season, is not yet considering sending the head coach into retirement. At the same time, Tuchel has a record of 2.02 points per match, which is the worst value among all Bayern coaches who have coached at least ten matches in the last almost 15 years.