Niko Kovac Admits He & His Bayern Munich Side 'Must Blame Ourselves' Following Freiburg Draw

Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovac was left to rue a whole host of opportunities missed by his side as they fell to second in the Bundesliga with a 1-1 draw

Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovac was left to rue a whole host of opportunities missed by his side as they fell to second in the Bundesliga with a 1-1 draw against a resolute Freiburg side on Saturday.

Having been top of the division on goals difference ahead of the weekend's clash, Die Roten came unstuck against their determined and well-organised opponents, seeing them drop crucial points in the race for the title.

Not ideal. #SCFFCB pic.twitter.com/8WGJhz16Yb

— FC Bayern (@FCBayernEN) March 30, 2019

Kovac's side deservedly fell behind after just three minutes through Lucas Höler's early header, and came within inches of being pegged further back, only for a combination of Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng saving them as they combined to clear Mike Frantz's goal-bound effort off the line.

Robert Lewandowski scored his 199th Bundesliga goal in acrobatic fashion shortly after to draw the visitors level, with Kovac, speaking on the club's official website, left unimpressed by his team's first half showing, bemoaning Bayern's inability to execute the first half game plan as planned.

"We must blame ourselves for two things. In the first half we didn't act as we had planned," he said.

Robert Lewandowski has scored in four consecutive Bundesliga games for the first time this season.

Turning it on for the business end. 🙅‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/g3p4GB3bKU

— Squawka (@Squawka) March 30, 2019

The second period saw a different Bayern side emerge, as the champions carved open numerous opportunities to grab a winner, only to be denied by a combination of good saves from Alexander Schwolow and wayward finishing from Lewandowski.

Such was the number of chances created by the visitors that Kovac was bemused by his side's failure to seal the win, instead left scratching his head as to how the Bavarian side were unable to snatch all three points.

Dortmund have the edge with #DerKlassiker around the corner 👀 pic.twitter.com/7iqKm5Fw2J

— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) March 30, 2019

He added: "In the second half we didn't make use of the wealth of chances we had. Those are the decisive points. 1-1 at half-time is okay. But in the second half we should have exploited the wealth of chances, if so we'd have comfortably won the match."