Champions Bayern Munich had only themselves to blame after dominating for one half against Borussia Moenchengladbach but then conceding three goals to lose 3-1 on Saturday in their first league defeat of the season. The Bavarians looked dazed, with Gladbach taking advantage of their few chances to score a memorable win after netting three times in 14 minutes. The runaway Bundesliga leaders, who had won 13 of their 14 previous league games, missed a string of big chances in the first half and also hit the woodwork with Kingsley Coman before imploding after the break. "We have only ourselves to blame," said French winger Franck Ribery, who came back from an eight-month injury break to score a late consolation goal. "We should have been ahead by two or three goals in the first half. Instead Gladbach score with every single chance they had. Now we have to put it behind us and look ahead." Bayern, who have qualified for the Champions League group stage and are eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, had been in sensational form this season, breaking record after record in a furious start that had seen them claim 40 of a maximum 42 points before Saturday. They confirmed their favourites tag with a dominant first half performance but could not make it count, missing good scoring chances while Gladbach keeper Yann Sommer was in top form. Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Mueller and Coman all came close with the latter hitting the post in the first half. "We had a really strong first half and created a lot of chances but unfortunately we did not manage to score," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola told reporters. "After the first goal we lost our discipline. Gladbach did it really well." For the hosts it was the 10th straight league game without defeat under coach Andre Schubert, who took over after five straight losses and has led them from 18th to third place. "If you want to play well against Bayern you have to play with conviction and we did that," said Schubert, who deployed an unusual system with three central defenders to contain Bayern's game through the middle. "We did not have a lot of time to train it but it worked well," said Gladbach captain Granit Xhaka. "I think Bayern were a bit surprised. Normally you don't think you can defend against them with three defenders but it worked well." (For more sports news andupdates, followAhramOnlineSportson Twitter at@AO_Sportsand onFacebookatAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/172710.aspx
