Beaten Bayern sits out festival

BERLIN - After one of its worst ever starts to a season, German giant Bayern Munich will not be making its traditional visit to its home city's world-famous beer festival, the club said on Monday.

"Due to the sporting situation, coach Louis van Gaal has decided there will be training at 11:30am instead," the club said in a terse statement.

Visiting the beer festival "would not make any sense now", Bayern's sporting director Christian Nerlinger told the regional tabloid TZ, after seeing his team slump to a second straight league defeat at Dortmund on Sunday.