Hitzfeld's bitter disappointment as Bayern Munich draws

BERLIN: Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld admitted he was bitterly disappointed on Sunday after Hamburg striker Mohamed Zidan scored a late equalizer to rob the Bundesliga leader of its 100 percent record.

Miroslav Klose had earlier volleyed his side into a 1-0 lead on 70 minutes to put Bayern on course for its fourth win in four games.

But Egyptian international Zidan slotted home 20 minutes after coming off the bench, just three minutes from time, to seal the 1-1 draw and deny Bayern in a bad-tempered affair which saw seven yellow cards.

The fired up home side worked tirelessly to try and breach Bayern's defence, but it was Klose, top-scorer at last year's World Cup, who scored first with his third goal of the season.

Bayern captain Oliver Kahn set the record for the most Bundesliga appearances by a goalkeeper as he played his 535th match.

But he could not stop Zidan's 87th minute strike from close-range as Hamburg's patience paid off and its moved up to fifth in the table.

"To concede the equaliser so close to the final whistle was bitterly disappointing," said Hitzfeld.

"We had a bad day and now have to be content with a point."

Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer was critical of the defensive lapse which allowed Zidan the chance to score.

"Martin Demichelis tried to be clever with a pass, instead of slamming the ball when there was danger," he said.

"Perhaps we took the whole game a bit too lightly and thought Hamburg wouldn't score past us."

A plus point for Bayern was the second-half introduction of Lukas Podolksi, the best young player at last year's World Cup, for his first Bundesliga appearance since knee surgery in April.

Having been humbled by Hanover and Bayer Leverkusen in the last fortnight, newly-promoted Karlsruhe bounced back as they poached a 1-0 win over champions VfB Stuttgart.

Against the run of play, midfielder Tamas Hajnal slotted home his shot from close range on 54 minutes to move his side up to 11th.

On Saturday, Finnish defender Petri Pasanen's second-half free-kick sealed a 2-1 win for Werder Bremen against Eintracht Frankfurt to catapault his side up the Bundesliga table.

Bremen has now become title contenders having jumped from 10th to sixth.

Fresh from its 3-2 Champions League qualifier win at Dinamo Zagreb, Bremen took the lead when striker Boubacar Sanogo slotted home on 35 minutes.

Third-placed Arminia Bielefeld was given a rude awakening as its aspirations to claim top spot were sent crashing by its 3-0 defeat at promoted Duisburg.

After Brazilian midfielder Maicon gave the home side the lead in the 64th minute, Duisburg made sure of the three points as Nigerian striker Manasseh Ishiaku scored two goals in as many minutes to lift the side up to seventh.

Hanover moved up to 12th as it bounced back from its heavy defeat at Bayern the week before with a hard-fought 3-2 win against second-placed VfL Bochum with Iranian striker Vahid Hashemian scoring the winner with 20 minutes left.

Energie Cottbus had a 1-1 draw at Nuremberg as Danish striker Dennis Soerensen converted an early penalty, but Andreas Wolf grabbed the equalizer five minutes from time to snatch a point.

AFP

(China Daily 09/04/2007 page23)