Bayern thrashed 5-1 at Frankfurt as Barca stunned by Levante
CGTN

Bayern Munich crashed to their heaviest Bundesliga defeat for a decade with a 5-1 thrashing at Eintracht Frankfurt which leaves head coach Niko Kovac under huge pressure.

Defending champions Bayern, who had to play the majority of the match with 10 men following Jerome Boateng's ninth-minute red card, are fourth, four points behind leaders Borussia Monchengladbach who won 2-1 at Bayer Leverkusen.

It was Bayern's biggest league defeat since April 2009 when they also crashed 5-1 at Wolfsburg, who won the 2008/09 league title.

"I know how this business works -- I am not naive," replied Kovac when asked about his future.

The 48-year-old said he would process "the solid defeat" on the journey home and would "get angry and disappointed on the bus to Munich".

However, Kovac weathered a difficult opening few months of last season to eventually win the league and cup double.

"I didn't give up then and I won't give up now," he added defiantly.

After a shock 2-1 loss at home to Hoffenheim last month, Bayern suffered a second league defeat of the season which came following Boateng's sending off for felling Frankfurt forward Goncalo Paciencia on the edge of the area.

Referee Markus Schmidt shows the red card to Bayern Munich's German defender Jerome Boateng during the Bundesliga match between Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Bayern Munich in Frankfurt, western Germany, November 2, 2019. /VCG Photo

Referee Markus Schmidt shows the red card to Bayern Munich's German defender Jerome Boateng during the Bundesliga match between Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Bayern Munich in Frankfurt, western Germany, November 2, 2019. /VCG Photo

Filip Kostic tapped home at the back post to open the scoring for the hosts on 25 minutes and Swiss midfielder Djibril Sow added a second eight minutes later from a Kostic cross to leave Bayern 2-0 down.

Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski brought his side back into the game eight minutes before the break when he bludgeoned his way through three defenders to fire home his 20th goal this season in all competitions.

Lewandowski's 14th league goal extended his record of scoring in each of the first 10 Bundesliga games this season.

However, Frankfurt were not to be denied and defender David Abraham hit their third goal after a pin-point accurate pass from winger Danny da Costa three minutes after the restart.

A fourth Frankfurt goal followed when defender Martin Hinteregger headed home from a corner on the hour.

Such was Frankfurt's dominance that head coach Adi Huetter brought on a third striker in Andre Silva for a defensive midfielder with 10 minutes left and it paid off as Paciencia added their fifth goal.

Bayern host Olympiakos on Wednesday in the Champions League. They top Group B with three straight wins, before facing Borussia Dortmund at home next Saturday in a Bundesliga showdown.

Gladbach are three points clear at the top of the table after French striker Marcus Thuram scored their winner at Leverkusen.

Dortmund climbed to second as goals by Raphael Guerreiro, Thorgan Hazard and Mario Goetze sealed a 3-0 win at home to Wolfsburg, who dropped from fourth to seventh.

RB Leipzig are a point behind in third after routing Mainz 8-0 with Germany striker Timo Werner scoring a hat-trick.

Freiburg drop to fifth despite Nils Petersen stealing a point in the last minute with his second of the game in their 2-2 draw at Werder Bremen.

Jose Luis Morales of Levante and Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona during their La Liga match at Estadio Ciutat de Valencia in Valencia, Spain, November 2, 2019. /VCG Photo

Jose Luis Morales of Levante and Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona during their La Liga match at Estadio Ciutat de Valencia in Valencia, Spain, November 2, 2019. /VCG Photo

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid each passed up the chance to go top of La Liga on Saturday after Barcelona conceded three goals in seven minutes during a surprise 3-1 defeat by Levante.

Lionel Messi converted a first-half penalty at the City of Valencia Stadium for his sixth goal in five games only for Levante to stun the defending champions with an incredible treble shortly after the hour.

Yet Atletico and Sevilla played out a 1-1 draw at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, where Diego Costa missed a penalty, before Real squandered a string of opportunities at the Santiago Bernabeu in a goalless draw against Real Betis.

It means Barca will be relieved to stay at the summit - ahead of Atletico by a point with a game in hand and in front of Real on goal difference - even if their collapse against Levante should offer encouragement to their title rivals.

Meanwhile, Granada will overtake them all if they beat Real Sociedad on Sunday.

"Everything unravelled," said Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde. "We didn't start the second half well, we weren't creating chances and although they weren't either they suddenly scored two goals. The third one hurt us a lot."

Jose Campana and Borja Mayoral scored in the 61st and 63rd minutes before Nemanja Radoja added a third in the 68th to leave their disheveled opponents with too much to do.

After seven wins on the bounce in all competitions, Barca arrived in Valencia as overwhelming favorites, particularly given the irresistible form of Messi, whose goal was the 500th of his career with his left foot.

"Opponents always play us like it is one of the biggest games of the year," Valverde added. "You have to have an answer."

After any Barcelona defeat, Valverde's future is a topic for discussion. Asked if he was surprised by his players or might consider resignation, he said: "No, to both questions."

To make matters worse, Luis Suarez was forced off in the 41st minute with an injury to his right calf and would now appear to be a doubt for Tuesday's Champions League game at home to Slavia Prague.

An unfortunate half for Suarez had seen him booked for a foul committed by Arthur Melo but referee Hernandez Hernandez corrected his error after being made aware by VAR.

Messi swept home his penalty after Jorge Miramon brought down Nelson Semedo and Messi might have made it two, but this time Miramon restored some credit by clearing off the line.

(L-R) Bournemouth's Philip Billing and Jefferson Lerma, Manchester United's Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard in action during the Premier League match at Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, UK, November 2, 2019. /VCG Photo

(L-R) Bournemouth's Philip Billing and Jefferson Lerma, Manchester United's Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard in action during the Premier League match at Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, UK, November 2, 2019. /VCG Photo

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted Manchester United had taken a "step back" after their mini-revival came to a crashing halt as Josh King's strike earned Bournemouth a 1-0 win in treacherous weather conditions on England's south coast.

Solskjaer's men had not won away from home since March until 10 days ago, but three consecutive wins on the road at Partizan Belgrade, Norwich and Chelsea to book a place in the League Cup quarter-finals in midweek hinted at a turning point for the Norwegian.

Instead, the failings that have characterized their season were back in evidence as a lack of goal threat and one moment of slack defending inflicted a fourth Premier League defeat in 11 games.

"We have to win games like this. We are disappointed but when you come to places like this you have to take control of the game. We did not and we could not get the goal," Solskjaer said.

"We were missing some quality at times. Maybe I should have started some others. I think we started the game well though so maybe that was not the case."

After their upturn in form lately, Solskjaer conceded he was expecting a better result as United try to get back in the race for a top four finish.

"You are always very down when you lose and considering the form we were in we were hoping to take the three points. It is a step back for us today, but we need to shake it off and go again," he said.

"The first goal was always going to be important. Every time you concede a goal it is bad but we are disappointed with this. We had time to tackle on a couple of occasions.

"We could not capitalize on the good start and a moment of magic won the game for them."

The visitors had started the brighter as both sides struggled to cope in the howling wind and rain.

Daniel James whistled a long-range effort just wide, whilst Anthony Martial saw appeals for a penalty waved away.

Bournemouth struck their decisive blow just before the break when King, who started his career in England at United after being recommended to Alex Ferguson by Solskjaer, came back to haunt his former employers.

The Norwegian acrobatically lifted the ball beyond Victor Lindelof and bamboozled Aaron Wan-Bissaka before firing past David de Gea.

United enjoyed plenty of possession in the second period to try and find a route back into the game, but even with Martial back to partner Marcus Rashford in attack, they lacked a cutting edge.

Andreas Pereira tested Bournemouth goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale with a dipping effort from the edge of the area, but it was not until Solskjaer threw on two teenagers in Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams in the final 10 minutes that the visitors really ramped up the pressure.

Greenwood came closest to an equaliser when he hit the post with his first touch before Scott McTominay's shot was too close to Ramsdale, who collected at the second attempt.

Bournemouth held out for a third consecutive clean sheet and just their third victory over United in their history to move above the Red Devils into sixth in the Premier League table.

(Cover photo via VCG)

(With inputs from AFP)