Beckenbauer writes off title for Bayern Munich

Posted Thursday, October 14, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

MUNICH (AP)—With Franz Beckenbauer all but writing off Bayern Munich’s chances of defending the Bundesliga title, the club received more bad news on Wednesday with the injuries of captain Mark van Bommel and striker Miroslav Klose.

The honorary president of the German powerhouse says Bayern “can hardly win the championship” now that the club has fallen 13 points behind leader Mainz and sits 12th after seven rounds.

Bayern won the domestic double last season and reached the Champions League final. But injuries to key players Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery and more recently Bastian Schweinsteiger have contributed to the club’s dismal start.

There was more bad news on Wednesday, with van Bommel and Klose ruled out for the next 10 days.

Van Bommel’s right-knee injury will rule him out of the Bundesliga game Saturday against Hannover as well as the Champions League game next week against Cluj.

The injury will also escalate the dispute between Bayern and the Dutch football federation. Bayern demanded van Bommel’s return before the Netherlands played against Sweden in Euro 2012 qualifying. But van Bommel played more than 70 minutes on Tuesday before being substituted.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said the Dutch federation was concerned only “about its own interests” and was ready to jeopardize the health of its players.

“What happened is exactly what we had been fearing before the game on Tuesday,” Rummenigge said.

“It would have been responsible to have sent van Bommel here on Tuesday and let him be examined and treated by our doctor,” Rummenigge said.

Bayern and the Dutch federation had already fallen out over the injury of star winger Arjen Robben. Robben played at the World Cup despite a hamstring injury that has sidelined him until next year.

The injuries will further spoil the mood in Bayern.

“Bayern can hardly win the championship any longer. But we can still finish between the top three and five,” Beckenbauer told Sport-Bild weekly in an interview published Wednesday. “We have to make sure that the gap doesn’t get bigger by the winter break.”

Beckenbauer also blasted Bayern’s possession-based style under coach Louis van Gaal, whose contract was recently extended by one season.

“If you have possession, you should make something out of it,” Beckenbauer said. “Just pushing the ball around and playing it back to the goalkeeper is surely not the idea of possession.”