Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Bayern 'couldn't have cared less' about Freiburg loss - Paderborn chief

Paderborn president Wilfried Finke has joined the long list of critics of Bayern Munich after their defeat at Freiburg, telling kicker: "They couldn't have cared less."

Bayern were beaten 2-1 at relegation-battlers Freiburg on Saturday -- their third successive Bundesliga defeat since being crowned German champions at the end of April.

Nils Petersen's 89th-minute winner allowed Freiburg to move up to 14th -- one point and two places clear of the relegation playoff place -- and Bayern have received widespread criticism over their failure to perform to potential in a match that had major ramifications at the foot of the Bundesliga table.

Paderborn, who conceded an 88th-minute goal in a 1-0 loss at Schalke at the weekend, are now rock-bottom going into their final game against Stuttgart on Saturday. They have to win and hope Hamburg do not beat Schalke if they are to finish in the relegation playoff spot and give themselves a chance of survival.

Their prospects would have been boosted if Bayern had denied Freiburg victory, and Finke accused Pep Guardiola's men of failing to adopt a professional attitude.

He said: "I don't want to diminish Freiburg's performance, but looking at their match against Bayern, and especially the buildup to their winning goal, the way [Bayern defender] Jerome Boateng escorts the attacker without even trying to win the ball ... it's just disappointing for us. And that is borderline when it comes to fair play.

"Petersen's goal was a perfect example of Bayern's attitude. You were able to see that they couldn't have cared less."

Hannover -- currently 15th in the table, one point clear of the relegation playoff spot but below Freiburg on goal difference -- had also expressed concern about Bayern's approach.

The club's sporting director, Dirk Dufner, said earlier this week: "Usually every club gets taken apart by Bayern, and all of a sudden it's different. Maybe a few clubs will now ask the league to only play Bayern on the final matchdays of the season."

Wolfsburg sporting executive Klaus Allofs was critical of Bayern's attitude despite his club having secured a top-three place in the Bundesliga this season.

He said: "Until now, Bayern had been a model of professionalism, but we haven't seen that professionalism in recent weeks. I can understand why some clubs are upset."

Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge hit back at those comments in Bild, recalling that, when Allofs was working at Werder Bremen in the 2003-04 season, they lost their first match after being crowned champions 6-2 to Bayer Leverkusen.

He added that he would "strongly recommend that VfL Wolfsburg refrain from making any more statements in terms of the distortion of the competition," highlighting the fact that Die Wolfe's owners, Volkswagen, had funded the big-money signings of Luiz Gustavo, Kevin De Bruyne and Andre Schurrle in recent times.

Injured Bayern winger Arjen Robben, meanwhile, told Sport1 the accusations against the champions were "just not proper" and said: "They can all assume that we give it our all to win games, and don't lose on purpose."

Jerome Boateng, though, admitted after the Freiburg loss that Bayern had lost focus after winning the title.

"We knew that our focus would no longer be on the Bundesliga, but we still have to play with a serious approach and should not perform like we did in the final minutes," the defender told reporters.

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