Champions Bayern Munich crashed to a 3-2 loss at VfL Bochum on Sunday (Feb 18) for a third straight defeat in all competitions, dropping eight points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen. The Bavarians, who had Dayot Upamecano sent off for the second consecutive match after his dismissal in Wednesday's Champions League loss to Lazio, showed no real game plan with coach Thomas Tuchel now facing mounting pressure. His team had lost last week's big league match against Leverkusen and suffered a 1-0 defeat to Italy's Lazio in their round-of-16 first leg.
Harry Kane's late goal at Bochum was not enough as Bayern Munich suffered their third defeat in nine days. Bayern took the lead through Jamal Musiala, before the first of two stoppages following fans' protests. Bochum scored twice, with goals from Takuma Asano and Keven Schlotterbeck. Kevin Stoger's penalty made it 3-1 after Dayot Upamecano had been sent off and, despite Kane's 25th league goal of the season, it was not enough.
Thomas Tuchel's Bayern are now eight points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
Tuchel said winning the Bundesliga title "does not look very realistic", but added: "Last season we believed until the end and we were rewarded. So we will keep working at it."
Bayern have been German champions in each of the past 11 seasons but now face the possibility of ending the campaign without a trophy. They lost in the German Super Cup in August and then went out of the German Cup in the second round to third-tier Saarbrucken in November.
Tuchel's side lost 3-0 at Leverkusen on Feb 10 and were then beaten 1-0 by Lazio in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in midweek.
Referring to the pressure on him following his team's third loss, Tuchel added: "That happens after every defeat.
"The 'how' we played is key. The 'how' was good and that's why this 90 minutes are very different from the second half at Lazio or the game at Leverkusen."
This defeat was the first time Bayern have lost three matches in a row since May 2015, when managed by Pep Guardiola.
