A shocking 3-1 loss to Mainz for Bayern Munich leaves the title race open
Bayern Munich, who are now atop the Bundesliga, lost 3-1 to Mainz on Saturday after giving up all three goals in the space of 14 minutes. With five games left to play, this loss could be expensive for Bayern Munich in the fight for the title.
After gaining a 1-0 lead thanks to Sadio Mane’s far-post header in the 29th minute against Manchester City, Bayern was ousted from the Champions League on Wednesday.
Bayern, who are vying for their 11th consecutive league title, are on 59 points, while Borussia Dortmund, who are in second position with 57 points, can overtake Bayern if they defeat Eintracht Frankfurt later on Saturday.
Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern, who have now won only two of their previous seven games under the former Mainz coach, were unable to create any more chances despite holding more than 70% of the ball for more than an hour.
Tuchel remarked, “We don’t feel any energy anymore. This team has experienced too much, and it finds it difficult to recover when things don’t go as planned.
It is really challenging to find your team’s fighting spirit. We have trouble winning games. Despite having the game under control, we were unable to add a second goal. We are not sufficiently concentrated.
After repeatedly failing to clear the ball, Bayern was penalised for poor play in the 65th minute when custodian Yann Sommer punched the ball straight into the head of Ludovic Ajorque, who only needed to nod in for the equaliser.
The Bayern club managers watched in full disbelief from the terraces as Leandro Barreiro scored and put the hosts in lead thanks to yet another defensive blunder by Josip Stanisic.
The hosts, who are now sixth and in the running for a position in Europe, however, weren’t finished yet as Aaron Martin rifled in their third goal in the 79th to make it 10 games without a loss for Mainz.
The setback increases the pressure on Hasan Salihamidzic, the controversial sports director, and Oliver Kahn, the club’s CEO, who had faced criticism for firing Julian Nagelsmann in late March and replacing him with Tuchel.
At the time, it was claimed that Bayern’s season goals were in jeopardy and that they needed to take action, but under Tuchel, they had already been eliminated from all cup tournaments.
After their third loss under Tuchel in seven games, they now also run the possibility of losing the Bundesliga championship. Nagelsmann lost three of his 37 games this season before being fired.
