Bayern Munich director of sport Christian Nerlinger has conceded the Bundesliga title to Borussia Dortmund following Saturday's home defeat.
A 3-1 win took Dortmund 16 points ahead of the defending champions with 10 games remaining and Nerlinger admitted the Bavarians can no longer think of catching their rivals.
"I think that Dortmund will be worthy German champions," said Nerlinger.
"If we hadn't changed our aims for the season yet, then we have got to do so today.
"We now have to aim for second place and that is not going to be easy. If Leverkusen win, and I presume they will do, then we will be six points behind.
"We are in a dangerous situation and the team cannot under-estimate that."
Bayern slipped to fourth in the table as a result of yesterday's defeat and, were the season to end now, they would not be playing Champions League football next season.
With the 2012 Champions League final due to be staged at Munich's Allianz Arena, failure to even qualify for the competition would be a major setback and chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says they must focus all of their efforts on ensuring that does not happen.
"Leverkusen are three points above us, Hannover two - it is not going to be a walk in the park," he said.
"We are going to have to push ourselves immensely to reach our goal."
While Bayern may have written off the title, Dortmund are still not accepting it will be theirs.
"Today was a really special day, but the title is not something which occupies our minds," said defender Mats Hummels.
