Bayer Leverkusen 3 Bayern Munich 1: Niko Kovac laments Robert Lewandowski's offside appeal following an expensive loss suffered during the title race

Niko Kovac said Bayern Munich were beaten in their 3-1 defeat by Bayern Leverkusen as their team lost ground to leader Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga race.

Leon Goretzka gave the advantage to Bayern at half-time, but goals after the interval of Leon Bailey, Kevin Volland and his replacement, Lucas Alario, prevented the champion from taking advantage of the draw 1 -1 which had pitted Dortmund at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Talk to Sky After the match, Kovac was forced to lament a VAR offside against Robert Lewandowski, while the striker thought he had doubled Bayern's advantage during stoppage time in the first period.

"The result does not show what happened on the pitch," Kovac said.

"We played well in the first half and the decisive stage was the offside decision. [for] 2-0.

"[If that goal stood] we would not have to lose this game. In my opinion, a draw would have been a fair result. Leverkusen shot four times and scored three goals. "

The appeal against Lewandowski was marginal, while such a tight decision was to the detriment of Leverkusen when the rehearsals of Alario's goal in the 87th minute were reviewed.

"It's difficult, if we do 2-0, nothing will happen," added Kovac. "The decisions of the referee hit us.

"The only good thing is that Dortmund did not score three points, so little has changed, although seven points is a lot."

Dortmund thanked his former boss, Peter Bosz, after Leverkusen produced a brilliant performance.

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"I'm proud of this team," he told reporters. "It was a very important win, also for our confidence, but it's only three points.

"We are on the right track, but we still have a long way to go – we still need more points.

"Maybe we did not play our best game but we still won, I think it was a great match for the fans, both teams wanted to win and played offensive football."