A despondent Thomas Tuchel passed on his ‘congratulations’ to Bayer Leverkusen after Bayern Munich fell further behind in this season’s Bundesliga title race with a crushing 2-0 defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund.
Karim Adeyemi and Julian Ryerson scored in each half at the Allianz Arena to secure Borussia Dortmund's first Der Klassiker win since 2019.
England captain Harry Kane seemed to give Bayern a small chance with one minute remaining, but his goal was disallowed for offside by referee Harm Osmers.
The result leaves defending champions Bayern 13 points behind Leverkusen, who came from behind to beat Hoffenheim in dramatic fashion earlier in the day.
Leverkusen’s incredible late comeback followed Xabi Alonso committing to the club for at least another season amid rumors the Spaniard could leave to manage either Bayern or Liverpool in the summer.
Bayern head coach Tuchel, who is leaving at the end of the season, looked very sad after Bayern’s latest disappointment and appeared to admit defeat to Alonso’s undefeated Leverkusen side as he talked about the loss.
‘Overall, the game wasn’t played at a high level. It was an average game,’ a downbeat Tuchel told Sky Germany in his post-match interview.
‘Unfortunately, we never adapted to that. From the lack of pace to the lack of passion. It’s hard to explain.’
Tuchel felt Bayern’s loss against fierce rivals Dortmund was somewhat unexpected.
The former Chelsea boss added: ‘We thought in the last few weeks that we wouldn’t get to the point where we would give away a game like that.
‘We had something completely different in mind, but we just didn’t manage it.’
Asked whether the title race was now effectively over, Tuchel replied: ‘Yes, definitely.
‘Congratulations to Leverkusen.’
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