Newly crowned Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich showed little to worry Champions League opponents Barcelona as they lost 2-0 at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Although coach Pep Guardiola will likely make a few changes ahead of
his first return to his former club for Wednesday's semi-final first
leg, injury-ravaged Bayern were far from their best and looked
distracted, with Hakan Calhanoglu and Julian Brandt inflicting a
deserved defeat a week on from clinching the title.
Still reeling from a penalty shootout defeat to Borussia Dortmund in
the DFB-Pokal semi-final on Tuesday, Guardiola's men began well before
fading away and allowing Leverkusen to take charge.
Bayern held firm throughout the first half, with Javi Martinez –
returning after nine months out – impressing at the back, but Calhanoglu
broke the deadlock in trademark fashion early in the second period.
Taking the lead only seemed to increase the focus in the Leverkusen
team, inspiring a search for more goals as they piled men forward at
every opportunity.
Mario Gotze should have drawn Bayern level when one-on-one with Bernd
Leno in the 76th minute, but Leverkusen ultimately wrapped things up
through Brandt late on, with Barcelona - who beat Cordoba 8-0 on
Saturday - next up for Guardiola's wounded team.
Due to the combination of Wednesday's trip to Camp Nou and a host of
injuries, Guardiola afforded Claudio Pizarro, Mitchell Weiser and
Gianluca Gaudino rare starts, while Rico Strieder made his first-team
debut.
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