Hamburger SV suffered a horrific, record-breaking 8-0 defeat at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, and their coach admitted it could have been even worse after shipping five in the second half.
Hamburg boss Josef Zinnbauer has claimed that Saturday's 8-0 loss at Bayern Munich will haunt him for the rest of his life, revealing that he spent the final few minutes praying his side wouldn't be beaten by double figures
The Northern team capitulated after Thomas Muller opened the scoring 21 minutes courtesy of a questionable penalty, with Mario Götze and Arjen Robben adding to the Bavarians' lead before the break.
The second half was a disaster for Hamburg, as further goals from Robben, Müller, Robert Lewandowski, Franck Ribéry and Götze saw the former European Cup winners suffer their heaviest league defeat since records began.
Zinnbauer was traumatised by the nature of Hamburg's collapse and admitted afterwards that he was simply grateful that Bayern had not broken through the 10-goal barrier.
"I’ll not forget this day for the rest of my life," he told reporters after the game. "There’s not a lot to discuss when you’ve lost 8-0.
"We have to apologise to our fans because 8-0 is unbelievable, although we did meet incredibly strong opponents today.
"The margin of victory is the right one. Bayern were world class but there is no excuse for losing 8-0.
"By the end, I was hoping that we wouldn't lose by double digits.
"We now have to pick ourselves up, put the game behind us as fast as we can and show a reaction in our next game, against Borussia Monchengladbach."
Quotes via GOAL.com