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    MUNICH, Germany -- England midfielder Owen Hargreaves broke his left leg as German champions Bayern Munich slumped to a shock 2-1 Bundesliga defeat at Armenia Bielefeld on Saturday. Hargreaves was carried off after 24 minutes when his fibula was snapped in a tackle with Bielefeld's Thorben Marx. After x-rays at a clinic Hargreaves said on his website: "It was confirmed there was a break in the left fibula." He will be in plaster for at least three weeks. "Then we'll have to see how the healing process goes," he said. Hargreaves has established himself in England's defensive midfield in the past three months and the injury leaves coach Steve McClaren with a problem before next month's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Macedonia and Croatia. It was a poor day for the top clubs in Germany, with Werder Bremen, last season's runners-up to Bayern, allowing a 2-0 lead to slip as they fell 3-2 at home to Stuttgart, and Hamburg crashing 1-0 at Borussia Dortmund. Jonas Kamper's 84th minute goal gave Bielefeld their 2-1 victory after Bayern's new signing Mark van Bommel scored six minutes into his league debut to put the Bavarians ahead. A mistake in defense allowed Artur Wichniarek to equalize in the 25th minute. Bayern, who won 4-0 at home to Spartak Moscow in the Champions League in midweek, could find none of the same spark in attack and Bielefeld clinched a deserved win from Kamper's free kick. Magath said: "I do not want to make excuses but the match calendar has certainly not helped. "There has been an international break, the domestic cup, the Champions League and back to the league. "I am sure we will find our rhythm soon and not lose games like this." Bayern's German international Philipp Lahm said: "We did not allow them many chances but we are guilty of not being purposeful enough going forward." Fortunately for Bayern, who fell to third in the table, their rivals once again failed to capitalize on their slip. Furious SchaafBremen coach Thomas Schaaf was furious after his side's setback."We had a comfortable 2-0 lead and then we stopped putting tackles in," he said. "Now is the time to stop talking and to start taking action." Bremen, who fall to seventh, hoped to get back on the winning trail after a German Cup loss to third division Pirmasens and a Champions League defeat to Chelsea. They lost their star striker Miroslav Klose through injury shortly before the match but stormed into a two-goal lead with Roberto Hilbert heading into his own goal and Egyptian international Mohamed Zidan producing a cool finish. Hilbert scored at the right end in the 32nd minute and it sparked a remarkable comeback as goals from Pavel Pardo and Luis Gomez secured a 3-2 win for the visitors. "That should not be allowed to happen," fumed Bremen captain Frank Baumann. "We just invited the opposition to score goals." Title hopefuls Hamburg saw their woeful start to the season continue with a 1-0 loss at Dortmund. "We are wobbling but we just need to keep pushing on and try to win our next match," declared Hamburg boss Thomas Doll. It was three defeats in a row for Hamburg who had lost to Stuttgart Kickers in the German Cup and then Arsenal in the Champions League. Former German international Christian Worns scored a late winner for Dortmund and Hamburg, third last season, now lie fourth from bottom without a win to their name. Dortmund are the big climbers going from ninth to fourth with the win. |
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Hargreaves was carried off after a tackle with Thorben Marx.
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