19 February 2024 , 07:12
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Bayern Munich won't sack under-fire manager Thomas Tuchel - despite their season crumbling with a third successive defeat.
Sunday's shock 3-2 loss at mid-table Bochum saw Harry Kane and co slip eight points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen in their fading bid to retain the Bundesliga title for a record 12th time. Bayern's defeat followed a miserable 1-0 loss away to Lazio in their Champions League round of 16 first leg last Wednesday, which itself came off the back of a 3-0 humiliation in Leverkusen.
Tuchel now finds himself in hot water but Bayern chiefs, renowned for being ruthless with managers, believe that he can turn things around. The former Chelsea boss won't be dismissed this week - in which his side were reduced to 10 men when defender Dayot Upamecano was sent off for the second game in a row - and he isn't thinking about quitting, according to Sky Germany.
Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen threw his support behind the 50-year-old post-match, admitting: "I feel rubbish. I don't believe in big statements about the coach. This issue isn't on our mind at the moment. Of course [Tuchel will be in charge next week]."
A defiant Tuchel insists that his team were unfortunate to lose, with England captain Kane's late goal - his 29th of the season - only going down as a consolation. "I don't think the defeat was a fair result today. A lot went against us," the embattled boss claimed.
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"We had five or six clear-cut chances and dominated the game. We went behind out of nowhere, but never gave up until the final whistle. We were outnumbered for a long time. I feel the defeat was different to the last two, it was undeserved.
"Everything that could go wrong did go wrong today. We perhaps lost a bit of momentum after the break and Bochum used that to fire themselves up. Overall, we performed differently today than in Leverkusen and Rome. We never lost hope."
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Harry Kane scored but it wasn't enough (Marco Steinbrenner/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)Midfielder Leon Goretzka described Bayern's form as "a horror movie that won't end." "Everything is just going against us at the moment. It feels incredibly strange," the Germany international added.
"We can pick ourselves back up and say that we started the game well. And we did. But you do also end up feeling a bit stupid now if you limit yourself to winning in the first half an hour. We gave it everything at the end. Y
"You can't blame us for that with a man down. We tried everything and got one back but it's difficult to find explanations for the result. In the end, we made too many individual errors. There have simply been too many of them in recent weeks."
Bayern are next back in action on Saturday when they host RB Leipzig. With Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen playing on Friday at home to relegation-threatened Mainz, Bayern could find themselves 11 points adrift come kick-off.