Wounded Bayern turn to Bundesliga as pressure mounts

BERLIN (Reuters) - Bayern Munich will look to Sunday's Bundesliga fixture against Hertha Berlin for a pick-me-up following their 3-0 Champions League loss to Paris St Germain as pressure continues to mount on coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Wounded Bayern turn to Bundesliga as pressure mounts

(Reuters)





The German champions have failed to impress this season and sit third in the league after six games, three points off undefeated leaders Borussia Dortmund. They threw away a two-goal lead against VfL Wolfsburg last week to draw 2-2.

The Bavarians know they must deliver on Sunday and avoid another slip-up ahead of the international break, and club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said it was time for the real Bayern Munich to put in an appearance.

"It is now important that we turn this around and present ourselves as Bayern again," he said after Wednesday's European defeat.

"We have to show that we are a team that caused waves in the past seasons, both in Europe and domestically, and we have to pick up where we left off.

"It was a bitter defeat that needs to be discussed and analysed and clearly there will be consequences. What we saw was not Bayern."

Bayern, who have won the last five league titles and lifted the Champions League trophy in 2013, are far from the dominant team of past seasons.

With a porous defence, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer out injured for months and an oft-changed side that has still to fire on all cylinders, Ancelotti must show he knows how to fix things when they face Hertha.

Ancelotti's decision to leave both Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben on the bench on Wednesday is unlikely to be repeated as they will be looking for goals in Berlin.

Hertha, in action in the Europa League later on Thursday, have won only one of their previous four matches and sit in eighth place on eight points but are undefeated at home this season with two wins and a draw.

Dortmund, who also suffered a midweek loss in the Champions League -- 3-1 to Real Madrid -- travel on Saturday to Augsburg, one of the pre-season relegation candidates who have defied the odds so far having won half their matches to sit in fifth.





(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Peter Rutherford)


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