Bayern Munich in crisis, 4 Bundesliga games without a win

BERLIN: Munich’s Oktoberfest is in full swing but Germany’s most successful soccer club is in no mood to party.

Bayern Munich are in crisis after four consecutive Bundesliga games without a win.

Doubt, uncertainty, disbelief — and anger. They’ve all been evident at the club since Bavarian rival Augsburg defeated Julian Nagelsmann’s star-studded team 1-0 on Saturday.

There was muted enthusiasm from the team and officials as they donned their traditional Bavarian outfits to visit the Oktoberfest on Sunday — smiles for the cameras, but little cheer.

The 10-time defending champions had started the season brilliantly, clocking 15 goals and conceding just one in their opening three games for the best start any team has ever made to the Bundesliga.

Then it stopped.

Bayern haven’t won since — being held to three consecutive draws by Borussia Monchengladbach, Union Berlin and Stuttgart — before Saturday’s shock also brought an end to Bayern’s league-record of scoring in 87 consecutive games. Leipzig was the last team to hold Bayern scoreless in the Bundesliga on Feb. 9, 2020.

“In the first three, four or five weeks we didn’t allow the opponents any chance,” Bayern midfielder Marcel Sabitzer said, “but then suddenly everything was gone.”

It’s not the first time Bayern have endured a hangover before the annual Oktoberfest celebrations. Niko Kovac’s team lost before festival visits in 2018 and 2019, while Carlo Ancelotti was fired shortly after the team’s 2017 visit. Pep Guardiola was the last Bayern coach to oversee a win right before the Oktoberfest in 2015.

The event did not take place last year or the year before due to the unpredictable development of COVID-19 infections and restrictions.

Nagelsmann, who had been