Soccer: Bayern struggle to win Munich derby

BAYERN MUNICH captain Oliver Kahn is confident his team will raise their game for their Champions League match against Celtic in Glasgow tomorrow night.

“This performance wasn’t anywhere near good enough for the match against Glasgow, but a good horse jumps only as high as it has to,” Kahn said after Bayern struggled to a 1-0 win over local rivals TSV 1860 Munich on Saturday.

“We all know that Celtic is a vital match for us,” the goalkeeper added. “If we want to win there, we’re going to have to add 50 to 60% on top of what we showed. Otherwise, we shouldn’t even bother showing up.

“We’re Bayern Munich. We’re travelling to Glasgow to win,” Kahn said. “Winning streaks are meant to be broken.”

Despite the seventh consecutive derby win, Bayern remained in fourth place, six points behind first-place VfB Stuttgart.

Stuttgart extended their unbeaten tally to 13 matches with their 10th triumph, a 3-1 victory over Hanover 96.

In Saturday’s derby against eighth-placed 1860, Netherlands striker Roy Makaay scored his seventh goal of the season for Bayern from their only first-half shot on target.

It took an impressive save by goalkeeper Kahn late in the match from a Benjamin Lauth shot to prevent 1860 from earning the draw.

Bayern were missing the creative midfield talents of Sebastian Deisler and Mehmet Scholl. Deisler is being treated for depression, while Scholl has a back injury.

In Italy, AS Roma romped to a 4-0 win at Bologna yesterday to stay within two points of Serie A leaders Juventus, but there were ugly scenes as Lazio beat Perugia 3-1 in a match in which four players were sent off.

Goals from Francesco Totti, Vincenzo Montella and Christian Panucci gave Fabio Capello’s Roma a 3-0 lead at the break, and Antonio Cassano added the fourth shortly after the restart.

Juve, who won 2-0 at Modena on Saturday, lead with 26 points from Roma on 24 alongside AC Milan, who defeated Chievo thanks to two goals from Andrei Shevchenko.

Inter Milan, who face Arsenal in the Champions League tomorrow night, are in fourth place after their 6-0 victory over Reggina on Saturday.

Lazio’s win will be remembered not for some excellent finishing, but for the angry clashes that soured the final half hour.

Roberto Mancini’s side went ahead through Dejan Stankovic just before the break, but winless Perugia fought back with an excellent strike from Fabio Grosso in the 62nd minute.

That should have set up a rousing finale, but instead the match descended into chaos.

First, Perugia’s Souleymane Diamoutene was sent off by referee Cosimo Bolognino for a late challenge on Lazio’s Giuseppe Favalli in the 71st minute.

Both teams were then involved in clashes in the 84th minute with Perugia’s Giovanni Ignoffo and Lazio’s Sergio Conceicao dismissed after the fracas.

Three minutes later Bernardo Corradi put Lazio ahead with a beautifully struck shot from the edge of the area.

There was more off-the-ball incident as players and team officials faced up to each other on the edge of the pitch, and Perugia coach Serse Cosmi was sent off.

In stoppage time, Perugia’s Marco di Loreto became the fourth player to see red after a wild challenge.

Simone Inzaghi wrapped up the victory with a third goal for Lazio after a delightful chip from 20 metres.

In Spain, David Beckham was on target as Real Madrid made hard work of overcoming struggling Albacete 2-1 yesterday, but the win was enough to send them back to the top of the Spanish first division.

The reigning champions have 26 points from their 12 games, the same number of points and goal difference as second-placed Deportivo La Coruna, but are ahead having scored more goals.

Deportivo left the door open to Real after they could only draw 0-0 at Real Betis on Saturday.

Beckham put Real in front after 37 minutes with a long-range strike, the inch-perfect looping right foot shot going into the net from 25 metres for the England captain’s third goal of the season.

However, Albacete wasted no time in getting an equaliser with Libero Parri firing home a Carlos Aranda cross inside a minute.

Real attacked constantly throughout the second half, and it was only dogged defense by the relegation-threatened visitors that kept the scores level. But Zinedine Zidane gave Real three crucial points when he headed home the winner nine minutes from time.

Cross town rivals Atletico Madrid’s five-game winning streak came to an end when they went down 3-1 at Valladolid.

Ajax Amsterdam beat Heerenveen 3-1 at home on Sunday to extend their lead over PSV Eindhoven at the top of the Dutch first division to four points.