Kimmich, Kovac put on brave faces after loss

Joshua Kimmich insisted faltering Bayern Munich "can deal with the pressure" after a 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund on Saturday left them seven points off the top and coach Niko Kovac under increasing scrutiny.

"If there's anyone who doesn't get what is at stake here, then they'll never get it," said defender Kimmich. "The thing that we absolutely wanted to avoid has happened."

Paco Alcacer scored Dortmund's winner 17 minutes from time as they twice came from behind to move further clear of Bayern, who remain third in the table.

The result piled the pressure on Kovac whose side's chances of winning a seventh straight title in his first season in charge suffered another blow. Bayern could even drop to fourth on Sunday if RB Leipzig win at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

"We need ensure we don't completely lose touch with the top," added Kimmich. "We are seven points behind Dortmund and Leipzig can still overtake us. The pressure is on us, but we can deal with it."

The Bavarian giants have now lost three of their last six league games and managed just eight points from the last 21 available.

"We allowed ourselves to be beaten twice on the counter, that shouldn't have happened," fumed Kovac. "We should have been more compact and unfortunately we lost a game which should have been a draw. We invited Dortmund to come and press us."

Lucien Favre's Dortmund remain unbeaten and four points clear of second-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach.

"Only we will be German champions," sang Dortmund fans at the final whistle.

However, Favre dismissed any such notions in his first season and warned that Bayern should not be written off.

"We are very happy to have 27 points after 11 games -- but no more than that," said the Swiss coach.  "There is still a lot of work to do, the level is very high this year in the Bundesliga, with a lot of teams playing well. We're working under the motto 'one game at a time'."