Niko Kovac Bemoans Fixture Pile Up as Bayern Munich Drop Points Against Nurnberg

Bayern Munich missed the chance to go four points clear at the top of the Bundesliga as they only managed a draw at relegation threatened Nurnberg.

Die Roten huffed and puffed in the first half but couldn't find a way through an organised home defence, and were only sparked into life when Nurnberg midfielder Matheus Pereira curled the ball into the far corner. 

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Serge Gnabry volleyed home an equaliser in the 75th minute, but Bayern were unable to find a winner in the closing stages, and escaped from the jaws of defeat as Tim Leibold cannoned a late penalty of the base of the post, much to the relief of the Munich players.

In a post match interview (via The Guardian) Bayern boss Niko Kovac suggested that his team were off the pace as they had played in the cup in midweek, which may have affected his teams performance. He said: "We had a tough German Cup game in midweek and maybe we were not that fresh."

The fact that Bayern would have been able to wrap up the title next week with victory against Nurnberg was not lost on Kovac.

"Nürnberg did it well and fought for every ball. They made our life difficult from the first to the last minute. It is frustrating because we could have gone four points clear."

The Croatian boss stressed that his team need to move on quickly and focus on their remaining matches as they look to beat rivals Borussia Dortmund to the title this season. 

"Now we must put this behind us as quickly as possible and win all three remaining games."

Worryingly for the 47-year-old, midfielder James Rodriguez had to be substituted only 15 minutes after being introduced as he seemed to pick up a calf injury.