The Bavarians narrowed the gap on the Bundesliga leaders to five points with a win over Schalke that left the manager pleased <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Niko Kovac said Bayern Munich’s midweek exploits in the DFB-Pokal took their toll during Saturday’s 3-1 win over Schalke and suggested the cup could be to blame for Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund dropping points earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
Goals from Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry followed a Jeffrey Bruma own-goal and an Ahmed Kutucu equaliser to ensure Bayern bounced back from a 3-1 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen with a victory at Allianz Arena on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The win came after an extra-time victory over Hertha Berlin four days earlier and it saw Bayern narrow the gap at the top of the Bundesliga to five points.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Dortmund let slip a three-goal lead in the final 15 minutes of their\u00a03-3 draw with Hoffenheim, and Kovac pointed to the leaders’ penalty shoot-out defeat to Werder Bremen as a possible cause of their collapse.<\/p>\n
“We did a really good job in the first half and temporarily in the second,” head coach Kovac told reporters.<\/p>\n
“But the 120-minute cup match was noticeable, in Dortmund too. You must not allow that when you’re three up after 75 minutes.<\/p>\n
“That was a warning, but I think it was a deserved win and the right margin of victory.”<\/p>\n
Schalke boss Domenico Tedesco said Gnabry’s strike in the 57th minute of the game killed his side’s chances at a moment when they were battling hard to get back on level terms.<\/p>\n
“Taken altogether it was a deserved defeat,” he said. “I think we failed to close down the flanks, especially at the beginning.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“We were a bit too passive. We tried to put up a fight after half-time but conceded the third in the middle of our best spell.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately we were too timid. If you want to take something away from Munich you have to defend by going on the attack, we failed to do that.”<\/p>\n
Bayern return to the pitch Friday with a league clash against Augsburg before turning their attention to a Champions League showdown against Liverpool.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n