FC Bayern gambled away their lead in Mainz and ultimately lost significantly. The championship is now in acute danger. A season without a title is imminent.
FC Bayern lost the important away game at Mainz 05 1:3 (1:0) and has to cope with the next major setback in the fight for the German championship. After the quarter-finals in the DFB Cup and the Champions League, the league title is now in acute danger. The Munich team remained without a win for the fifth time in their seventh competitive game under their new coach Thomas Tuchel. Borussia Dortmund would have the chance to overtake Bayern in the table with a home win against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday evening (6.30 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online).
Ironically, the pardoned Sadio Mané, who is said to have hit his team-mate Leroy Sané in the dressing room after the 3-0 defeat at Manchester City last week in the dressing room, initially scored the opening goal for Munich (29th).
But in the second half, Mainz turned the game around with three goals. Ludovic Ajorque (65′), Leandro Barreiro (73′) and Aaron Martin (79′) scored the goals. Bayern is now threatened with the first season without a title since 2012. Mainz, on the other hand, remained unbeaten in the fight for Europe for the tenth time in a row.
That’s how the game went
All the background noise around Säbener Straße or the speculation about the future of bosses Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic shouldn’t play a role on the field. Tuchel relied on Thomas Müller, who had been on the bench in the duels with City, for the ailing Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting. In addition, Mané, Alphonso Davies and Josip Stanisic were included in the starting XI for the “character test” (Tuchel).
And yet Bayern started shakily. Only after the courageous Mainz team had made several mistakes and Davies had to go down with a hamstring injury did the guests take control of the game – and pose a threat. FSV captain Silvan Widmer saved against Müller (14′), Mané was also just offside when he scored (15′).
Against the eleven of coach Bo Svensson, who had played as a professional under Tuchel in Mainz for five years, the Munich team repeatedly had problems. Mané, of all people, who had come under criticism for the Watschn affair, provided some security with his lead goal. Jamal Musiala (31st) just missed the second goal.
After the break, however, the Munich team dropped alarmingly. Tuchel could by no means be satisfied. Müller narrowly missed the ball again (56′), but Mainz made a clearly committed impression and deserved the equaliser.
Bayern failed to clear the ball from a free-kick, Jae-Sung Lee’s shot deflected by Sommer before Ajorque headed in. Tuchel’s team wobbled more and more worryingly – and Mainz, who suddenly played like they were intoxicated, struck ice cold. Barreiro (73.) completed a cool attack worth seeing into the left corner.
