FC Bayern gambles away the lead: Mainz 05 opens up all chances for the title for BVB

Relegation candidates lose

The crisis of record champions FC Bayern Munich is coming to a head. The Munich team lost 3-1 (1-0) at Thomas Tuchel’s former club Mainz 05 on Saturday and could lose the lead to Borussia Dortmund in the evening. The new Bayern coach Tuchel experienced a bitter return to his old place of work three days after being eliminated from the Champions League, where he had been head coach for five years from 2009 to 2014.

In front of 33,303 spectators in the sold-out Mainz Arena, Bayern took the lead through a goal by Sadio Mané (29th minute). But Ludovic Ajorque (65′), Leandro Barreiro (73′) and birthday boy Aarón Martín (79′) turned the game sensationally in the second half. Mainz set a new club record with their tenth game without defeat in a row.

Mané headed in from a measured cross from João Cancelo. The 31-year-old was a driving force, already in the 14th minute he had served Thomas Müller, who had returned from the start, with a cross pass in front of the goal, but Silvan Widmer from Mainz was able to block the shot at the last second. A minute later, Mané scored for the first time, but after video evidence was used, the goal was disallowed.

The hosts, who had recently won twice at home against FC Bayern, did not allow many more chances. However, the Rheinhessen themselves had hardly any counterattack opportunities. In the 26th minute, Leandro Barreiro had a chance after sprinting past three Bayern players in the penalty area, but the shot went over his foot. After that, it was Karim Onisiwo who went for goal alone in the 43rd minute, but slipped when trying to shoot at the edge of the box and landed on his stomach.

After the restart, Mainz came up trumps. After a free-kick by Aaron, Bayern couldn’t get the ball away, so South Korea’s Jae-sung Lee fired a shot from behind. Bayern goalkeeper Yann Sommer couldn’t hold the ball and Ajorque heads the ball in. For the French it was the sixth goal in the last eight games. Barreiro (73′) and Aaron (79′) made the Mainz party perfect.

Werder party in Berlin: Ducksch hits three times on Dárdai’s debut

Thanks to three-packer Marvin Ducksch, Werder Bremen took a big step towards staying up and missed the staggering bottom of the table Hertha BSC when Pal Dardai returned to the coaching bench. The Bremen team won 4-2 (2-0) in the sold-out Olympic Stadium on Saturday, even without their top scorer Niclas Füllkrug, to the delight of their thousands of fans who had traveled with them. Ducksch decided the game for Ole Werner’s team with three goals (6th, 27th and 51st minute). Ex-Herthan player Mitchell Weiser increased to 4:0 (63rd), before Jessic Ngankam (68th) and Dodi Lukébakio (78th minute, penalty kick) scored the Berlin goals.

In front of 74,667 spectators, the Berliners, who have now been without a win for seven games, were unable to recover from the early goal and showed signs of dissolution at times. The task for the Hungarian, who led the Berliners to stay up in 2015 and 2021, is now even more difficult. After the third defeat in a row, the Berlin remain bottom of the table. Next Sunday Hertha also has to go to the series champion Bayern Munich (3.30 p.m. / DAZN).

After the success, Bremen have 35 points on their account, which in recent years have often been enough to stay in the Bundesliga. After six games without a win, each with at least two goals conceded, a threesome was achieved again. The next duel with a relegation candidate is for Werder next Saturday at Schalke 04 (6.30 p.m. / Sky).

Bundesliga: VfL Wolfsburg celebrates a resounding victory at VfL Bochum

VfL Bochum suffered a crushing setback in the relegation battle against VfL Wolfsburg. The Revierklub deservedly lost 5-1 (3-0) to the team coached by Niko Kovac on Saturday. Bochum is only two points ahead of the relegation rank and must continue to tremble about remaining in the Bundesliga. Wolfsburg, on the other hand, can have greater hopes of a place in the European Cup with 43 points.

Mattias Svanberg (10th/56th minute), Jakub Kaminski (21st), Patrick Wimmer (33rd) and Luca Waldschmidt (77th) scored the goals for the brilliant Lower Saxony. Unlike Wolfsburg, the hosts were harmless in attack in front of 24,834 spectators in the Ruhr Stadium and did not get into the duels at the back as usual. Substitute Moritz Broschinski only managed the consolation goal (68th).

TSG Hoffenheim stays in the bottom: home defeat against 1. FC Köln

1. FC Köln has come a big step closer to remaining in the league and has increased TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s concerns about relegation again. After 13 unsuccessful attempts, the Rhinelanders celebrated a deserved 3-1 (2-0) win against their rivals for the first time since 2015 and now have 35 points, a decent cushion on the relegation places. Hoffenheim, on the other hand, is still stuck in the bottom of the table with 29 points.

In front of 30,150 spectators in the sold-out arena in Sinsheim, Florian Kainz scored a hand penalty in the 18th minute, Davie Selke (39th) and Jan Thielmann (90th + 2) scored the goals for the Cologne team, who are now unbeaten in four games. Kasper Dolberg scored for Hoffenheim (90+4).

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