The title battle is still open after Bayern Munich’s shocking 3-1 loss to Mainz
Bayern Munich, who are now atop the Bundesliga, lost 3-1 at Mainz on Saturday. They gave up all three goals in a span of 14 minutes, which could be expensive for them in the title fight with five games left.
After gaining a 1-0 lead thanks to Sadio Mane’s 29th-minute header at the far post, Bayern, which was eliminated by Manchester City in the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday, could not have asked for a worse afternoon.
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Bayern is vying for an 11th straight league title with 59 points, and Borussia Dortmund is in second place with 57 points. If Dortmund defeats Eintracht Frankfurt later on Saturday, it would pass Dortmund and take over the lead.
The former Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern, who have now won only two of their past seven games, were unable to create any more chances despite enjoying more than 70% of the possession for more than an hour.
Tuchel remarked, “We no longer feel any energy. This team has experienced too much, and as a result, it finds it difficult to recover after setbacks.
“Creating a team spirit to fight back is incredibly challenging. We struggle to prevail in games. Despite being in control of the game, we were unable to add a second goal. We lack sufficient attention.
Yann Sommer, the custodian, pushed the ball directly onto the head of Ludovic Ajorque, who only needed to nod in for the equaliser, as Bayern were penalised for shoddy defence in the 65th minute.
Leandro Barreiro scored a goal and put the hosts in lead thanks to another defensive blunder by Josip Stanisic, shocking the Bayern club managers who were watching from the stands.
However, the hosts weren’t finished yet as Aaron Martin blasted in their third goal in the 79th to give Mainz, who are now sixth and in the running for a European position, 10 games without a loss.
The result adds to the pressure placed on club CEO Oliver Kahn and the controversial sports director Hasan Salihamidzic, who had come under fire for firing Julian Nagelsmann in late March and appointing Tuchel.
Bayern has been eliminated from all cup competitions in less than three weeks under Tuchel, despite claims made at the time that their season goals were in jeopardy and they needed to take action.
Now that they have lost three straight matches under Tuchel, they now run the possibility of losing the Bundesliga championship. Nagelsmann was fired after losing three of his 37 games this year.
