Bavarian giants, Bayern Munich was condemned to its first Bundesliga defeat of the season Saturday — beaten 3-1 at Borussia Moenchengladbach, in an inspired 15-minute second half spell.
Gladbach had to withstand sustained pressure from its Bavarian rival until striking with a vengeance after the break as Oscar Wendt, Lars Stindl and Fabian Johnson were on target.
Bayern’s late consolation at least gave it some cheer as substitute Franck Ribery scored on his first outing for nine months after injury.
It was Bayern’s first defeat in the German top flight since losing to Freiburg in May and only its second reverse of this campaign, a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in the Champions League, repaid in full in the return fixture, the other.
Pep Guardiola’s team has a lengthy injury list, but he was able to field an unchanged starting line up for the first time in 99 matches.
The 54,010 capacity crowd at Borussia Park saw the reigning champion have largely the better of play before the break with Kingsley Coman rattling a post.
But in the 54th minute Raffael set up Wendt for the Swedish international to fire past Manuel Neuer. Stindl volleyed home on 66 minutes to double the lead, with Johnson racing to clear beat the visiting goalkeeper five minutes later.
Arturo Vidal and Thomas Muller set up French star Ribery for his goal, but it was too little to late.
Guardiola was quick to praise the home side after a rare defeat, but said missed chances were the key to the setback.
“We played very well in the first half and created many chances. Unfortunately we didn’t score any goals,” he told gathered reporters. “After the first goal we lost our shape a little. Gladbach took advantage of that very well,” he added.