EURO BITES: Bundesliga - Bayern embarrassed, Borussia Dortmund star going nowhere, and ice hockey injury suffered

Chris Leischwitz rounds-up the latest news from Bundesliga, including some embarrasing results for Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach.

BAYERN MUNICH EMBARRASSED BY SECOND LEAGUE TEAM

Bayern Munich suffered an embarrassing loss in their only friendly match of the winter break against Karlsruher SC 2-1. In Karlsruhe’s sold out Wildparkstadion, Arturo Vidal scored Bayern’s only goal to equalise after 21 minutes. The winning goal by Karlsruhe’s Nazarov was scored from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute and Bayern manager Pep Guardiola spoke about a “lesson learned” after the match. He probably addressed Jérôme Boateng in particular, with the defender sent off after a professional foul that led to the winning penalty.

MORE FRIENDLY MATCHES END WITH EMBARRASSMENTS

It wasn’t only Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munch who suffered defeats, as several other top club managers were disappointed with their final rehearsals for the return of the Bundesliga. Borussia Mönchengladbach lost to second league team VfL Bochum 5-2 despite leading twice. The Champions League experienced defence was overwhelmed by Simon Terodde who came into the game for the second-half and scored a hat-trick. Also Darmstadt 98 lost to a second league team, 1. FC Nürnberg, as they went down 1-0. VfB Stuttgar, meanwhile, lost to third tier Würzburger Kickers 2-1.

RAFINHA JOINS BAYERN INJURY LIST AHEAD OF BUNDESLIGA RETURN

With the return date of several players still questionable, Bayern Munich have been dealt another injury blow with Rafinha suffering a bruised knee during the friendly match against Karlsruher SC. He will likely miss two weeks of the second half of the Bundesliga season. The utility defender or midfielder, who just recently acquired the German citizenship, is one of manager Guardiola’s favorite players because he is usable in many different positions and will be a loss. Bayern Munich will be back in business on Friday night against Hamburger SV. Mario Götze, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry are not likely to feature after their long lasting injuries. Only Austrian international David Alaba is expected back on the pitch.

DORTMUND’S TOP TALENT SAYS HE WILL STAY

Borussia Dortmund’s midfield prospect Julian Weigl ended any doubts that he might leave the black-and-yellow any time soon. “I have great plans with Dortmund,” the 20-year-old said according to Bild. Weigl, who has signed a contract until 2019, was allegedly offered with a €25 million deal from Manchester City which caused some trouble in Dortmund…not least because two midfielders have already left the club (Jonas Hofmann to Mönchengladbach and Adnan Januzaj back to Manchester United) and Sven Bender is still injured. Weigl joined Dortmund at the beginning of the season for for only €2 million from Munich TSV 1860 and has played in 16 out of 17 Bundesliga games.

ANOTHER SCHALKE PLAYER ON THE WISHLIST

While Schalke 04 desperately trying to keep the best talents in their squad, another player has reportedly received an offer to leave the club. According to Bild, VfL Wolfsburg is interested in signing defender Bosnian international Sead Kolasinac. The rumours were fuelled by the fact that Kolasinac is a good friend of Julian Draxler, who left Schalke for Wolfsburg last summer. In the meantime, the future of Leroy Sané (allegedly several offers, including one from Real Madrid) and Joel Matip (several Premier League offers) remain uncertain. They look set to be in the squad when Schalke will start into the second half of the season on Sunday with a home game against Werder Bremen.

BUNDESLIGA STAR INJURED WHILE PLAYING ICE HOCKEY

Ingolstadt has a pretty successful ice hockey team, which is cooperating with the Bundesliga squad in many fields. Last week, the promoted FC took up an invitation to join their winter sport colleagues. Unfortunately, defender Tobias Levels injured his ankle when slipping on the ice during the training session. He had to undergo surgery afterwards and is likely to miss the rest of the season. The hockey training unit was meant to bring some distraction to the players - not add to their problems. Ingolstadt is only one of two teams that did not travel to a training camp during the winter break, and they are now considering signing another defensive player.