Tue, Oct 25, 2011 page18

• Hannover breach Bayern’s defenses

  • AP, BERLIN
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  Mohammed Abdellaoue scored from a penalty on his birthday to break Bayern Munich’s eight-game Bundesliga run without conceding a single goal in a 2-1 win for Hannover 96 on Sunday. Both teams were reduced to 10 men.

  The 26-year-old Abdellaoue scored in the 23rd minute after Bayern captain Philipp Lahm brought down Hannover captain Steve Cherundolo in the penalty area.

  Manuel Neuer guessed the right way, but Abdellaoue struck the ball inside the left post to end the goalkeeper’s personal record of 770 minutes without conceding in the Bundesliga.

  

  Bayern Munich’s Thomas Mueller, right, vies for the ball with Hannover 96’s Emanuel Pogatetz in their Bundesliga match in Hannover, Germany, on Sunday.

  Photo: AFP

  Bayern defender Jerome Boateng was sent off five minutes later for hitting out at Christian Schultz, who was booked, after players from both sides became embroiled in a melee after Bayern defender Rafinha cut down Sergio Pinto.

  “It wasn’t a red card in any case,” Boateng said. “He started it. Why would I push him back for no reason?”

  Hannover coach Mirko Slomka also disagreed with the decision.

  “I told the referee that he should give no cards at all and play on,” Slomka said.

  Christian Pander scored Hannover’s second in the 50th minute, his effort taking a big deflection off Luiz Gustavo to deceive his former Schalke teammate in the Bayern goal.

  US defender Cherundolo was sent off for a second yellow card after he held Franck Ribery back in the 63rd minute.

  Bayern substitute David Alaba scored a late consolation in the 83rd minute when he converted Lahm’s cross with a low shot into the left corner.

  “A lot went against us today. There was a penalty and then a sending-off that was unjustified,” Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes said. “We had two great chances after the break. If we had made it 1-1, we could have won.”

  Bayern missed the chance to go six points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund after their first defeat since the opening weekend, while Hannover climbed to fourth.

  Earlier on Sunday, Jefferson Farfan scored late in his 100th Bundesliga appearance for Schalke 04 in a 1-0 win at Bayer 04 Leverkusen to move his side into third.

  Farfan scored in the 82nd minute on a counterattack when he beat Andre Schuerrle to the ball, before slotting past Bernd Leno off the far post.

  Former Germany captain Michael Ballack was booked for complaining that the Peru winger fouled Schuerrle before he set off on his 70m run.

  “In my view it was a foul,” Schuerrle said. “He stepped on my foot and spun me around. It was such a stupid goal, it shouldn’t happen.”

  The goal came one minute after Schalke’s Jermaine Jones appeared fortunate to escape a second yellow card for a foul on Michal Kadlec. US midfielder Jones had been involved in a series of run-ins with Ballack, who pushed the back of Jones’ head before a corner and later became involved in a dispute with Schalke coach Huub Stevens.

  Ballack had a goal ruled out for offside in the 25th minute and he should have scored before the interval when he shot straight at Lars Unnerstall, playing in place of Schalke’s injured No. 1 Ralf Faehrmann.

  Raul went close for Schalke either side of the break and Jones might have scored in the 57th minute when he fired over from 18m.

  Trouble flared briefly before the game in Hannover, where police were called in to deal with fans in the stands.

  Lars Stindl might have made it 2-0 before the break when he hooked Abdellaoue’s fine cross over from 2m under pressure from Lahm.

  Zieler denied Germany teammate Gomez twice in quick succession after the break, the second save outstanding in the 49th minute.

  Bayern found it hard to get past the well-drilled Hannover defense, but they began to find gaps after Cherundolo’s sending off.

  Bastian Schweinsteiger hit the post with two minutes remaining and Bayern’s penalty appeals were turned down when Lahm fell under Konstantin Rausch’s challenge in a race for the rebound.

  Rausch tried to catch Neuer out of his goal in stoppage-time, but he fired wide, and Alaba sent a free-kick narrowly wide.

  Goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand, who was signed by Schalke last week, has the Bundesliga record of 884 minutes without conceding, set in 2003 with VfB Stuttgart.
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