Bayern chief fumes after Basel defeat

BASEL – Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness watched his German giants crash to a shock Champions League defeat at FC Basel on Wednesday and then lashed out over criticism of Franck Ribery.

The French international was taken off by coach Jupp Heynckes with 20 minutes left in the 1-0 last 16 first leg defeat at the hands of the unheralded Swiss.But Ribery refused to shake the hand of the Bayern coach as he trudged off.“I don’t give a shit about that,” Hoeness fumed at a reporter. “Why ask about a handshake when there is football to talk about? He was upset about being substituted, so what?”Heynckes took a calmer approach and said a 2-0 win back at Munich next month in the return leg would rescue the situation.“It’s an uncomfortable situation, but I have been in these situations before in my coaching career,” he said.“The alarm bells are ringing, but we have a second leg and we can still correct this result. It’s certainly possible that we can beat Basel 2-0 at home.Switzerland striker Valentin Stocker came off the bench to seal the famous victory for the underdogs in the 86th minute as the Swiss giantkillers added Bayern’s scalp to that of Manchester Unted.Basel beat Sir Alex Ferguson’s United 2-1 in the group stages last December and boosted their chances ahead of the second leg at Munich’s Allianz Arena on March 13.“We have beaten two of the best teams in the world here now – Manchester United, from who we took four points in total, and Bayern which is unbelievable for a Swiss team,” beamed Basel goalkeeper Yann Sommer.The defeat compounded Bayern’s flagging confidence and seriously dents their dreams of appearing in a final on home turf on May 19.While Basel are flying high at the top of the Swiss league, Bayern have won just three of their last seven games and were held to a goalless draw at bottom side Freiburg last Saturday to leave them third in the Bundesliga.NEGATIVEInter Milan paid the price for their negative tactics as the 2010 European champions were stunned by an Andre Ayew stoppage-time goal to lose 1-0 at Olympique Marseille in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.Ayew broke the deadlock with a glancing header from Mathieu Valbuena’s corner in the third minute of time added on leaving the Inter players shaking their heads in disbelief as the French side stretched their unbeaten run in all competitions to 16 games.Inter coach Claudio Ranieri left Argentine striker Diego Milito on the bench, even though he is the only player to have scored for the team in their last seven games, netting all the goals in the 4-4 home draw against Palermo in Serie A three weeks ago.Wesley Sneijder and Mauro Zarate were unimpressive against Marseille but Milito was never called upon as Ranieri used only two of his three possible substitutions with Giampaolo Pazzini also staying on the bench.Ranieri appeared unconcerned by the task facing the Nerazzurri in the return leg at the San Siro on March 13“The San Siro will be full and it will be an advantage for us,” he said.”We can score two goals no problem.“We played well, we had good counter attacks, we had more opportunities and they scored on their first chance. We did not deserve to lose,” Ranieri added. – Nampa-AFP/Reuters

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