Bayern Munich turn on themselves as Julian Nagelsmann calls out his stars’ ‘ZERO per cent work rate’

Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann was furious after his team’s 2-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen and accused his players of having a “zero percent” work rate.

Although Bayern took the lead through Joshua Kimmich, two second-half penalties by Exequiel Palacios condemned them to defeat.

Bayern sit second in the Bundesliga, one point behind Borussia Dortmund, and there are concerns that they may not be able to retain the title, which they have won in each of the last ten seasons.

Speaking after the game, Nagelsmann admitted that his team deserved to lose against Leverkusen.

He said: ‘Except for the last ten minutes, we were the worst team. There was little power on the pitch, we didn’t play well. So we deserved to lose.

The defeat means Bayern are one point behind Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund.

Nagelsmann didn’t hold back in his scathing assessment of his team when he called them lazy.

He said: ‘We had that over and over again. It had improved in recent weeks, this combination of emotion and quality. Today we have been lazy. Defensively and offensively, some players had a 0 percent rate. We were really weak in our own presentation of the game.’

Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic was also very frustrated, admitting he has “rarely experienced” such a lack of mentality from Bayern.

Salihamidzic played for Bayern between 1998 and 2007 and has been its sports director since 2017.

He said: ‘That’s not what Bayern Munich stands for. We lost everything. We let ourselves be passed by a team that was still playing on Thursday. Bayer was better in all aspects.

‘I have rarely experienced so little drive, so little mentality, so little grief, so little assertiveness. This team is so good when they have a mentality from the beginning and go 100 percent. And she’s not as good when she plays as she is today. When she is lazy and she thinks that she can do anything with the playful quality. She just can’t.

Sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic was surprised by Bayern’s lack of strong-mindedness

Bayern’s first game after the international break will see them host title rivals Dortmund on April 1 in a crucial clash.

However, there is little time to prepare for the game as many players will be on international duty.

Last week, Nagelsmann lashed out at a mole in the Bayern dressing room after German media published the tactical plans.

Documents on how Bayern changed their tactical style were published on the German site Bild.

Nagelsmann was very frustrated by the situation, saying: ‘It bothers me a lot. The person transmitting this harms each of the players, they are not the target.

Last week Nagelsmann was angry that a mole leaked Bayern’s tactical plans to the media.

‘What is the person who transmits this looking for? What are you waiting for? I don’t see what his motivation could be, beyond facilitating the task for the adversary.

Moles are protected species. Every time you drive through the countryside, you see 80,000 moles and you can’t get rid of them. Your search is very, very difficult.

“I hope this person can’t look in the mirror because it’s not fair.”

Bayern will need to improve significantly for their all-important game against Dortmund

Bayern are through to the Champions League quarter-finals, where they will face Manchester City, while they will face Freiburg in the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals.

Nagelsmann, who previously managed Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, took charge of Bayern in 2021 and won the Bundesliga title in his first season at the club.