Near the abyss

Germany's most decorated football team suffered a shock defeat at home on Tuesday, going down 2-0 to Girondins Bordeaux, who earned qualification to the Champions League knockout stages.

Yoann Gourcuff opened the scoring after 37 minutes and Marouane Chamakh added a late second to guarantee Bordeaux, with 10 points, a top two finish in Group A. Juventus are second on eight points after a 1-0 win at Maccabi Haifa, leaving Bayern in third spot and facing a battle to qualify.

Bayern, with striker Luca Toni partnering Miroslav Klose up front instead of Mario Gomez, missed a few good chances in the first half and hit the post through Edson Braafheid in the third minute.

In a goalmouth scramble later in the game, Michael Ciani cleared a Klose shot off the line, although television replays showed the Bordeaux player had touched the ball with his hand.

"These details decide games. We weren't lucky, but we weren't good enough either," admitted Bayern manager Louis van Gaal after the game. "In a top game it is always important to get a goal," he added, before focussing on the Bavarian team's only glimmer of hope: "We're not out yet, we still have a small chance."

With four points from four games, Bayern will need to win their last two games, against Maccabi Haifa and Juventus, to have any chance of getting out of the group. "We have to win twice. Then we'll have ten points. It'll be difficult, but it's possible," said Bayern captain Mark van Bommel.

Wolfsburg stick close to Manchester United

There was better fortune for the newly crowned German champions Wolfsburg, who stayed on track to reach the knockout round by beating Besiktas 3-0 in Istanbul.

Zvjezdan Misimovic scored with a powerful drive in the 14th minute that left goalkeeper Hakan Arikan helpless. Wolfsburg's second goal came from midfielder Christian Gentner in the 80th minute, and star player Edin Dzeko scored a third with three minutes remaining.

Wolfsburg are in second place in Group B with seven points, three behind Manchester United, who drew 3-3 with CSKA Moscow to advance to the next stage with two games still remaining. CSKA has four points.

"We had a really good game," Wolfsburg manager Armin Veh said after the game, "We stayed organized at the back and combined well in attack. The first half was particularly good. We could have had an even higher lead. At the end we withstood Besiktas' final offensive well and gave ourselves a good chance of getting to the next stage."

If only Bayern could say the same.

bk/AFP/Reuters

Editor: Nigel Tandy