Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti feels his side must not forget how good a start to the season they have made, despite going two games without a win.
After seeing their eight-game winning start to the season brought to an end by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday, with a 1-0 defeat in Spain, Bayern’s 100 per cent record in the Bundesliga came to an end on Saturday.
Cologne became the first side to deny Ancelotti’s men all three points with a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena after Anthony Modeste cancelled out Joshua Kimmich’s opener.
But Ancelotti preferred to focus on the positives after dropping points for the first time in the league.
“We must not forget that we’ve had a really good start to the season,” said the Italian at the post-match press conference.
“Our last two games were not good, but I still have a great deal of belief in my players.
“A lot of them were really tired after Wednesday’s game and it was good and normal that we rotated.
“We move on after the international break.”
Ancelotti felt his side had controlled the game well in the first half, but conceded that Cologne had improved in the second 45 minutes.
“In the end, we could have won the game, but Cologne also had chances,” Ancelotti added.
“We are disappointed, but we mustn’t worry.”
Cologne coach Peter Stoger admitted that not even he could see his side’s own unbeaten start to the season continuing when his players returned to the dressing room at half-time.
“It didn’t look at all like we would take a point in the first 45 minutes,” he said “We were inactive.
“We were more courageous in the second half and that paid off. We are very, very happy to take this point away with us.”
The draw would give Cologne good reason to celebrate at Munich’s beer festival on Saturday night, while Bayern’s own annual visit to the Oktoberfest on Sunday has been dampened somewhat by their last two results.
Borussia Dortmund failed to take full advantage and move to within a point of the Bavarians at the top of the standings as they were beaten 2-0 by Bayer Leverkusen in the evening game.
Admir Mehmedi and Javier Hernandez supplied the goals as Roger Schmidt’s men edged closer to their rivals, with eight sides now within three points of Bayern.
That group is led by Hertha Berlin, who had Vedad Ibisevic to thank for a 2-0 win over Hamburg which took them up to second place and left the northern side still inside the bottom two.
Hoffenheim moved into a group of four teams on 10 points with a 2-1 win at Ingolstadt, who are one of three clubs yet to win this season.
Sandro Wagner and Kerem Demirbay scored for Julian Nagelsmann’s men with a Lukas Hinterseer penalty scant consolation for the Bavarians, who have picked up just one point from their first six games of the season.
Werder Bremen’s revival under caretaker-coach Alexander Nouri continued as they drew 2-2 at Darmstadt.
Antonio Colak scored both goals for the home team while Ludovic Sane and Serge Gnabry scored for Bremen.
Elsewhere, Freiburg triumphed over Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 thanks to a Vincenzo Grifo goal.
