German Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich were punished at home on Thursday for careless defense by visiting English Bolton, who achieved a 2-2 draw in a UEFA cup match.

 

In front of the 65,600 audience at the Allianz Arena, Jamaican midfielder Ricardo Gardner handed the visitors a shock eighth minute lead.

 

Later on, Bayern dominated possession and forward Lukas Podolski gleefully opened his account for the season with a fine equaliser on the half-hour.

 

The German striker scored his second goal four minutes into the second half, helping the home side to lead the guests.

 

Bayern continued their dominance and coach Ottmar Hitzfeld chose to rest a clutch of his stars as his team will travel to Stuttgart in less than 48 hours to challenge the German champion in a Bundesliga match.

 

Hitzfeld withdrew Podolski and French international Ribery, the two stars of the evening, sending on Italian forward Toni and young prodigy Toni Kroos for the last half-hour. Later on, midfielder Schweinsteiger was also benched.

 

However, the Premier League outfit never threw in the towel and Kevin Davies took advantage of Bayern's loose defense to restore parity with eight minutes remaining, snatching one point from the top favorite of the UEFA Cup.

 

"I am quite disappointed with the result," said Hitzfeld, whose side top the group with four points.

 

"The team didn't play well, we took control of the game, but we were still too care-free, which really frustrated me," he said.

 

"But we have four points now and I don't think we will have a problem to qualify," he added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2007)