Berlin, Nov 26 (IANS): Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola will be looking for answers at the sudden lapse in concentration of his players at the closing stages of the 2-3 defeat against Manchester City in the Champions League.
The unexpected loss Tuesday handed Bayern its first defeat in Group E of this season's Champions League campaign, reports Xinhua.
Of all people it was two of Bayern's key players that lost them a game which they seemed to have under control. Mistakes by midfielder Xabi Alonso and defender Jerome Boateng in the dying minutes handed Manchester City a victory they scarcely deserved.
Even after their 2-3 loss against the English Premier League champions, Bayern will stay at top of the table with 12 points and 13-4 goals ratio.
Up until the 84th minute, Bayern dished out an effective performance to lead 2-1 despite being down to ten men for most part of the match. But they conceded two late goals to succumb to their first defeat.
The usually reliable Alonso performed admirably until that fatal moment. Similarly defender Boateng, part of the 2014 WOrld Cup winning German team, was at fault for one of the goals.
Bayern had to change their system after defender Medhi Benatia was given a straight red in the 20th minute, going 0-1 down. Bayern, with 10 men, gained control after Alonso's equaliser (41st) and had most of the possession.
Robert Lewandowski struck to put the Bavarians 2-1 up shortly before halftime and seemed to have wrapped up the game with City posing little threat.
But Bayern lost concentration in the last quarter and the game was decided by two big individual mistakes.
Alonso's wayward pass (85th) and Boateng's weak header (90th) resulted in two late goals which led to Bayern's loss, despite enjoying 55 percent of ball possession.
Bayern may well have been a little too complacent but what will surprise Guardiola and director of football Matthias Sammer are the mistakes made by such seasoned professionals as Boateng and Alonso.
Bayern controlled the game worked well until the red card for Benatia forced Guardiola to bring on Brazilian defender Dante.
City were not able to take advantage of playing with the extra man and didn't look like scoring after going 1-0 up.
Losing its first game of the season is not something Bayern will be proud of, but it is far from a catastrophy, having are already qualified for the knock-out stage.
They missed the chance to be the first German team to win all six group matches and Guardiola will note the defeat as a painful reminder for his players ahead of far more crucial matches.