German Bundesliga report: Second defeat for Bayern

Borussia Monchengladbach inflicted a second Bundesliga defeat of the season on Bayern Munich to boost their own hopes of qualifying for the Champions League next season with a 2-0 win at the Allianz Arena.

Raffael netted both goals for the Foals, who moved back up to third in the Bundesliga, two points clear of fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

With Wolfsburg picking up only a point in their trip to Mainz earlier on Sunday, Bayern still hold a sizeable 10-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with eight games of the season remaining, although their off-colour showing will give their Champions League quarter-final opponents Porto some hope.

Gladbach weathered an early storm in which it looked like Bayern were going to stamp their authority on the Bundesliga once again.

They did not make the breakthrough, however, and Gladbach drew confidence from their resolute defending, as well as from seeing Arjen Robben leave the field after only 24 minutes with an injury.

No less than Thomas Muller replaced him, though, with no respite looking likely for Gladbach.

However, Lucien Favre's men took the lead with their first shot on goal after half an hour, Raffael's effort squirming underneath Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, whose uncustomary error proved costly.

Gladbach drew confidence from their goal and started to assert themselves on the game against a Bayern side who were looking increasingly tired, both mentally and physically.

A tight offside decision denied Andre Hahn the chance to bear down on Neuer while another blow of the referee's whistle ended the excitement when Robert Lewandowski's header hit the crossbar.

The post was struck at the other end by Hahn with Bastian Schweinsteiger defending the ball from the Gladbach forward to enable Neuer to collect.

Gladbach were still in the ascendancy and they deservedly doubled their lead in the 77th minute when Christoph Kramer crossed for Raffael, who volleyed in his and Gladbach's second, with Neuer again not looking particularly impressive.

The visitors could easily have added a third with a succession of counter-attacks which they failed to bring to a conclusion, although they held on to a rare win in Munich.