It‘s never easy to play a derby match without your best striker, who scored 20 out of your 56 goals. But to play without him and then with 10 men for 70 minutes against the current Bundesliga champion, that is an impossible task. And that‘s the task Bayern Munich players got in the 17th minute, when Manuel Neuer made a terrible mistake and received a straight red card. For over an hour, the home team tried to be competitive against Bayer Leverkusen and they were, and even had better chances, but in the end, a header from one African solved everything. Neuer‘s blatant error was punished by Nathan Tella in the 69th minute for the final score 1-0. Bayern‘s only loss of the season came in the Champions League and now they are out of the Cup too, and remain perfect just in Bundesliga.Bayern Munich’s seven-game winning streak across all competitions came to an end with a draw against Borussia Dortmund last week, and after conceding their first goal in that span (the game ended 1-1), they conceded their second one tonight and lost the game in which they were even better team, even without all 11 men of the field. The current Cup winners are through to the next round thanks to a Manuel Neuer blunder and Tella‘s goal. Coach Xabi Alonso kept his record against his former team as he hasn‘t lost in five games against Bayern since becoming the Leverkusen boss (won three, drawn two).Just as the game begin, a shock happened at the Allianz arena. A stunning mistake which even youngsters in the U16 are not making, yet alone the best German keeper in the last decade, with over 630 games played and with enough experience (38 years old). Frimpong was quicker than all Bayern‘s defenders and Neuer decided to step out of the penalty area in an attempt to prevent a goal, which was the first mistake. The second one was that he didn‘t even touched the ball, but rather body-checked Frimpong to the ground like in hockey or NFL. The referee doesn’t hesitate in showed Neuer a straight red card, his first ever in career. Leroy Sane was the casualty after this stupid move by his goalkeeper and made way for Daniel Peretz. But nothing happened as the result of this red card. In fact, the Bavarians had no less than three good chances in the first half, all with one player less on the field.MANUEL NEUER RECEIVES HIS FIRST EVER RED CARD FOR CLUB OR COUNTRY FOR THIS HIT HE LAID ON JEREMIE FRIMPONG 😳 pic.twitter.com/aq3XbDvQYM— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 3, 2024 Laimer played a teasing ball into the middle in the 34th minute, but Grimaldo read the danger and slide in to nick the ball off Coman’s foot. Kimmich then curled a free-kick from the right into the box and found Goretzka, who leaped well above his marker to power a header at goal. But Kovář read it well and dived to his right to make a fine save. Kim also had a chance, but his header went just near the left post. Alonso decided to introduce Patrick Schick at half-time in order to score some goals, but the Czech striker was injured and had to come off after only 15 minutes on the field. It was Nathan Tella who came in for him and eventually scored the winner in the 69th minute. Bayern didn‘t give up and created two good chances, but eventually, Bayer‘s reserve keeper kept a clean sheet against a mighty team from Bavaria. DFB POKAL – GERMAN CUPRound of 16TuesdayBielefeld – Freiburg 3-1 (2-0)/Lannert 28, Kania 36(p), Oppie 81 – Gregoritsch 63/Jahn Regensburg – Stuttgart 0-3 (0-2)/Millot 10, Chase 19, Woltemade 61/Bayern – Leverkusen 0-1 (0-0)/Tella 69/Werder – Darmstadt 1-0 (0-0)/Jung 90+4/Wednesday20:00: (1.85) Koln (3.60) Hertha (4.30)20:00: (1.93) Wolfsburg (3.80) Hoffenheim (3.65)22:45: (3.20) Karlsruher (3.50) Augsburg (2.20)22:45: (2.35) RB Leipzig (3.50) Eintr.Frankfurt (2.95)***odds are subject to change***
