Bayern Munich wasted a two-goal lead in front of a home crowd to slump to a 3-2 Bundesliga loss to Bochum, but second-placed Bayer Leverkusen were unable to take advantage, going down 2-0 at home to Werder Bremen.
Bayern, who beat Leverkusen 3-0 in their Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday, looked to be cruising to a comfortable win after Raphaël Guerreiro struck twice in 14 minutes to put them 2-0 up by the 28th minute. Bochum, however, cut the deficit three minutes later, with Jakov Medic drilling in.
Things got worse for Bayern when João Palhinha was sent off two minutes before the break after a rough tackle and Bochum made the extra man count when Ibrahima Sissoko headed in a 51st-minute equaliser. The visitors completed their stunning comeback in the 71st when Matus Bero slipped into the box and beat Jonas Urbig, in the Bayern goal in place of the injured Manuel Neuer.
“No excuses. We lost and we can analyse as much as we want but we have to take responsibility for everything,” said the Bayern head coach, Vincent Kompany. “So far we always reacted really well [to defeats]. In these moments you have to accept that the criticism will be there but we will focus on the reaction.”
Bayern are top on 61 points and remain eight points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen. Werder, who had lost their previous five matches, took a surprise seventh-minute lead away to the defending champions, with Romano Schmid slotting in at the far post after a defensive error.
Aleix García came agonisingly close to an equaliser for the hosts but his first-half stoppage-time free-kick bounced off the bar.
To make matters worse for Xabi Alonso’s team, who host Bayern in the Champions League return leg on Tuesday, Florian Wirtz suffered an ankle injury in the 54th minute and the Germany attacking midfielder had to be substituted.
Alonso said Wirtz had been taken to hospital for a scan and there was no information yet on the extent of his injury or if he would be fit for Tuesday’s game against Bayern. “It is too early to say,” Alonso said. “We have to see what the feeling is, what the result of the scan is and then we will have the information.”
Despite some late pressure but only a handful of chances, Leverkusen could not find the equaliser and it was Werder who scored again, in stoppage time with Justin Njinmah.
In Serie A Milan came from two goals down to win 3-2 at lowly Lecce in Serie A on Saturday, with midfielder Christian Pulisic levelling for the visitors from the penalty spot before scoring the winner late in the second half.
Milan had two goals ruled out for offside inside 15 minutes, with Nikola Krstovic scoring for the hosts in between with a stunning shot from a distance for a 1-0 lead at half-time.
The Montenegro striker doubled Lecce’s advantage before the hour mark but the home side then scored an own goal through defender Antonino Gallo before Pulisic pulled Milan level from the spot in the 73rd minute and scored the winner from close range shortly afterwards.