Hannover profit from Bayern blunder

Hannover became only the second side to beat Bayern Munich this season with a 2-1 win in today's Bundesliga match at the Niedersachsen Stadion. Mohammed Abdellaoue put Hannover in front from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute and Bayern were reduced to ten men five minutes later when Jerome Boateng was given his marching orders. An own goal from Luiz Gustavo doubled Hannover's lead in the 50th minute while they too lost a man as Steven Cherundolo was dismissed in the 63rd minute. David Alaba reduced the arrears seven minutes from time and Bastian Schweinsteiger hit the post in a dramatic conclusion to the match, but Hannover held on for a win which lifts them up to fourth in the table. "My team lost today, but I liked what I saw from them more than from some of the heavy wins we have had this season," said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes. "That was an intensive game with lots of feeling from both teams. I think if we could have got to 1-1 just after the break, we could have gone onto win the game." Ron-Robert Zieler has recently made the breakthrough into the Germany squad, and he showed why with a fine instinctive save to deny Mario Gomez in the 14th minute. He was beaten in the 20th minute, but the crossbar came to his rescue to deny Toni Kroos. Neuer's bid to beat Timo Hildebrand's record of 884 minutes without conceding a goal in the Bundesliga was ended when the referee awarded a penalty when Philipp Lahm unnecessarily took Lars Stindl's feet from beneath him. Abdellaoue stepped up and became the first player to beat Neuer in the league in 771 minutes and only the second opposition player all season to score past him. Bayern were reduced to ten men in the 28th minute when Boateng was sent off for pushing Christian Schulz. Zieler made his next telling intervention to deny Gomez, who had been put through on goal by Kroos in the 47th minute. Three minutes later, Hannover doubled their lead with Neuer again beaten by one of his own players rather than an opponent. Holger Badstuber had diverted a cross into his own goal in the UEFA Champions League against Napoli in midweek, and today Christian Pander's shot, which was heading wide of the far post, took a wicked deflection off Luiz Gustavo to leave Neuer no chance as it spun the other way into his goal. Stindl almost made it 3-0 in the 54th minute, but his low shot struck the outside of the post. The home team were reduced to ten men in the 63rd minute when Cherundolo was shown his second yellow card for obstructing Franck Ribery near the halfway line. Bayern substitute Alaba then gave Bayern hope in the 83rd minute when he collected Lahm's low cross and shot low into the bottom corner. And Schweinsteiger nearly levelled in the 88th minute when his shot was touched on to the post by Zieler and Lahm's penalty claims were waved away as he went down while pouncing on the rebound. Konstantin Rausch should have sealed the win in the second minute of stoppage time when he tackled Neuer as he ventured out of his goal, but he sent his shot wide of the open goal.