The German title holders will probably resurrect a long gone tradition of wearing Brazilian colours blue and yellow when playing away at 1. FC Kaiserslautern after the Champions League finalists were defeated by the newcomers in an exciting game tonight.

The game kicked off to the deafening sound of rousing cheers from the home support. This clearly intimidated the Bavarians as they struggled to impose their style on the defiant Lautern, who occasionally threatened the visitors, but to no greater effect.

The first clear-cut chance of the game fell to Thomas Mueller in the 24th minute, but the usually reliable forward missed a sitter after being released by Bastian Schweinsteiger in the home team’s penalty area.

From there on, it was all Kaiserslautern. First, the unmarked Ivo Ilicevic stunned the visitors with a thunderous shot into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area in the 36th minute, and a moment later Srdjan Lakic latched onto a ball that crept under Holger Badstuber’s boot and finished coolly past Hans-Joerg Butt.

Bayern tried to mount a comeback and score a goal before the break, but ultimately failed and found themselves trailing by two at half-time.

The visitors started the second half with a sense of urgency, but were repeatedly let down by poor finishing. Miroslav Klose and Ivica Olic both wasted wonderful chances, firing their shots high and wide when faced with Tobias Sippel. Toni Kroos had a chance to claw one back for Bayern in the 66th minute, but was denied by an impressive reflex save by Lautern’s goalkeeper.

The home team were content to sit back and soak up the pressure, waiting to hit the German champions on the counter. More often than not they tried to pressure the susceptible Badstuber, whose confidence was clearly fading after his error in the first half.

Substitute Erwin Hoffer could have made it three ten minutes before the final whistle, but was tackled superbly by Mark Van Bommel as he was about to finish past Butt. Meanwhile, Ilicevic was sent off for his second bookable offence after a tackle on Mueller.

Following tonight’s game, Kaiserslautern top the Bundesliga with six points, while Bayern Munich drop to eighth.

Lautern’s next league match is away to Mainz on September 12th, while the Bavarians host Werder Bremen a day earlier. ?