Ancelotti dismissal fails to boost bungling Bayern

Bayern Munich on Sunday let slip a two goal lead for a second consecutie Bundesliga match to draw 2-2 at Hertha Berlin and fall five points behind leaders Borussia Dortmund.

Willy Sagnol, who was appointed caretaker coach of Bayern Munich after Carlo Ancelotti's sacking, won five Bundesliga titles as a Bayern player. Reuters/Axel Schmidt

In their first fixture since Carlo Ancelotti was sacked the champions went 2-0 up thanks to strikes at the Olympic Stadium from Mats Hummels and Robert Lewandowski.

The advantage appeared to endorse the decision of caretaker coach Willy Sagnol to field Thomas Mueller, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and Lewandowski. The quartet had all criticised tactics in recent weeks.

But within two minutes of Lewandowski’s goal for Bayern, Hertha had halved the deficit.

Japan international Genki Haraguchi picked up the ball in midfield beat Robben, Hummels and Joshua Kimmich before sliding a pass to Ondrej Duda who fired past Sven Ulreich. Salomon Kalou levelled for the hosts a few minutes later.

It was a case of deja vu for Bayern. On 22 September at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Maximilian Arnold and Daniel Didavi scored in the second half for Wolfsburg to peg back the champions.

The pressure rose on Ancelotti after that display and his position was virtually untenable after Bayern were swept aside 3-0 on 27 September at the Parc des Princes in their Group B Uefa Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain.

Ancelotti, who led Bayern to the 2017 Bundesliga title, was dismissed less than 24 hours after the PSG defeat.

Hoffenheim boss Julian Nagelsmann and ex-Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel have been touted as possible replacements for Ancelotti.

However Nagelsmann's credentials were hardly enhanced on Sunday when his side lost for the first time this season. They went down 3-2 at seco from bottom Freiburg.

Hoffenheim drop to third with 14 points, the same tally as second placed Bayern who have a better goal difference.

Bayern's stalemate and Hoffenheim's defeat allowed Dortmund to extend their lead to five points. Dortmund won 2-1 win at Augsburg on Saturday and are the only unbeaten side in the Bundesliga after seven games.