Mitglieder-Ackte » He was in the stands at San Siro with wife and

Bayern Munich’s problems are mounting after its worst start to the Bundesliga in nine years.Saturday’s 2-2 draw at struggling Augsburg followed a 2-1 loss at home to Hoffenheim and ensured that Niko Kovac’s team has dropped points in half of its league games so far.Asked if Bayern was sliding into another Autumn-crisis following a similarly weak stint last year TheTopSoccer , captain Manuel Neuer bluntly replied, “I hope not.”But the signs aren’t good.Defensive pillar Niklas Süle has been ruled out for months with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, forward Thomas Müller is unhappy with his reserve role since Philippe Coutinho arrived, and there are questions over the team’s mental strength after just four wins from eight Bundesliga games.“You’re going to look at the points total from last year and draw conclusions. You’re entitled to do that,” said Kovac, who endured a crisis of four competitive games without a win around the same time last season.Bayern’s 15 points is the team’s worst mark at this stage since Louis van Gaal was in charge in 2010. The Dutch coach, whose side had 11 points at the time, was fired the following April.Kovac doesn’t enjoy the unflinching support of Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, but he has been backed for now by sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic.“We’re all pulling in the same direction Cheap Dortmund Soccer Team Uniform ,” Salihamidzic said.Coutinho and Müller, his substitute on Saturday, missed good chances to put Bayern up 3-1 before Alfred Finnbogason equalized for Augsburg in injury time. It was the sixth consecutive game in which Kovac started with Coutinho instead of Müller.“We live in a competitive society,” Kovac said.This time last year, Rummenigge and club president Uli Hoeneß attacked the media for “derogatory, slanderous reporting” and threatened to take legal action if unfavorable coverage of the team’s struggles continued.Kovac managed to turn the side’s fortunes around and eventually led it to a record-extending seventh straight Bundesliga title, as well as a German Cup victory in Berlin.This year, Kovac has been charged with doing better in the Champions League, where his side has already delivered a statement with a 7-2 rout of Tottenham. Bayern next visits Olympiakos on Wednesday www.thetopsoccer.com/club-team-kit/chelsea , then it returns to Bundesliga action against visiting Union Berlin on Saturday.Despite its lackluster start, Bayern is just behind leader Borussia Mönchengladbach at the top of the Bundesliga.“We’re one point behind first place. Do you want to talk us into a crisis?” Hoeneß said on Monday. “I’m satisfied with everything but our goal tally.”LEIPZIG STRUGGLINGLeipzig, which had ambitions of challenging Bayern for the league title this season, is also struggling.Julian Nagelsmann’s side has not won any of its last four competitive games, leading to criticism from chairman Oliver Mintzlaff after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wolfsburg.“It feels like a defeat. Five points from the last four home games is too little, two points from the last two Bundesliga games, too. We can do better,” Mintzlaff said.Leipzig next hosts Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League on Wednesday. MILAN (AP) — Despite the absence of Mauro Icardi, Inter Milan managed to beat Sampdoria 2-1 in Serie A after a dramatic finale on Sunday.All the goals came in a five-minute spell with Danilo D’Ambrosio and Radja Nainggolan scoring for Inter Cheap Inter Milan Soccer Team Uniform , either side of Manolo Gabbiadini’s equalizer.Inter remained third but again moved four points clear of fourth-placed AC Milan. The top four from Serie A qualify for the Champions League.The build-up to the match had been dominated by Icardi, who was stripped of his captaincy on Wednesday amid protracted contract negotiations, and the player then pulled out of the squad for the Europa League trip to Rapid Vienna and the match against Sampdoria, officially with a knee injury.He was in the stands at San Siro with wife and agent Wanda Nara.“I really appreciated that Icardi came to the stadium but I would have appreciated it even more if he had come into the dressing room afterward to celebrate with his teammates,” Inter coach Luciano Spalletti said.“To get back to normal there are more steps to be made, more efforts. Icardi has to experience with the team the happiness of being part of this group.”It was an open game and both teams went close on several occasions before Inter broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute with D’Ambrosio volleying into the roof of the net from close range after good work from Ivan Perisic.Inter was caught napping three minutes later and Gabbiadini leveled with his first touch, seconds after replacing Riccardo Saponara.Inter restored its lead two minutes later when a corner was knocked out to Nainggolan, who fired into the bottom left corner for his first goal since Nov. 3.UNLUCKY 13Napoli failed to make the most of its domination and that could cost it dearly.Carlo Ancelotti’s side drew 0-0 at home to Torino and is now 13 points behind Serie A leader Juventus.Napoli had a number of chances but was frustrated by a mixture of poor finishing and some brilliant saves from Torino goalkeeper Salvatore SiriguLorenzo Insigne also saw a curling effort come off the right post.Napoli defender Allan was shown a second yellow card and sent off in stoppage time. However, after checking with the video assistant referee www.thetopsoccer.com/club-team-kit/juventus , the card was rescinded and Kevin Malcuit booked instead.INJURY CRISISLazio’s misfortunes continued as it conceded a clumsy equalizer and a stoppage-time goal to lose 2-1 at Genoa, damaging its hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.Lazio remained seventh, level on points with Atalanta and city rival Roma which hosts Bologna on Monday. Lazio is four points behind Milan.Lazio had a huge injury list with nine key players all ruled out, while Ciro Immobile was playing but not fully fit. It also lost defender Stefan Radu to injury during the match.Milan Badelj gave Lazio the lead shortly before halftime and hit the crossbar after the break but Genoa leveled in somewhat fortunate circumstances when Lucas Leiva’s attempted clearance bounced off Antonio Sanabria’s leg and into the back of the net.Genoa snatched all three points in stoppage time as a poor clearance fell to Domenico Criscito, who drilled it into the bottom right corner.OTHER MATCHESFiorentina came from behind to win 4-1 at relegation-threatened SPAL after video review changed the course of the match .SPAL thought it had gone 2-1 ahead when Mattia Valoti scored on the counter-attack but the referee viewed a previous incident on VAR and opted to disallow the goal and award Fiorentina a penalty for Dias Felipe’s trip on Federico Chiesa moments earlier.Spal was four points above the relegation zone and one ahead of Empoli, which beat Sassuolo 3-0 for its first league win of 2019.Chievo Verona, which is in last place and 12 points from safety, lost 1-0 at Udinese.