analysis
After the 2-2 draw against bottom-placed FSV Mainz 05, FC Bayern Munich not only has to accept a setback in terms of football, but also in terms of personnel. The leaders are sending warning signals.
The author of the quote is of course well known to the global football world. “Santa Claus has never been an Easter bunny.” The then FC Bayern Munich manager Uli Hoeneß said this in annoyance a few years ago when he was asked about Bremen, who had fallen behind in the table. That means: A championship season is only decided in the spring, when the Easter Bunny with his little nest and the decisive football games come around the corner – and not in the winter when Santa Claus takes the presents out of his sack.
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer falls with one Torn muscle fiber out of
The current Munich sports director Max Eberl now repeated the famous quote, so to speak, when he warned after the annoying 2:2 (1:1) against Mainz 05: “This,” he spoke about the indiscriminate distribution of gifts against the bottom of the Bundesliga, “must not happen to us in the decisive games that will come at some point.”
And now Manuel Neuer is also out: the goalkeeper tore a muscle fiber on the back of his right thigh against Mainz, and he will probably be able to play again after the Christmas break. After all, his representative Jonas Urbig recently replaced him perfectly. Neuer’s injury is just one of several warning signals that the Munich team sent after the unexpected draw.
FC Bayern were behind in six of the last eight games
In a sense, Hoeneß’s St. Nicholas Easter Bunny quote has now been reinterpreted to apply to his own team. Despite the now nine-point lead, the Bundesliga leaders have the following to say: If these mistakes continue to happen into April and May, then Munich might still be caught up at Easter.
Munich have been behind in six of the last eight games. “We made life a little difficult for ourselves,” said sixth man Joshua Kimmich. “The games are too open for too long.”
Kompany: Tiredness after the Club World Cup and many games is not an issue
After all, his Bayern were leading against Mainz for a while. But that didn’t help, in the second half the unexpectedly bold Rheinhessen completely turned the game around. As if to calm himself down a little in this unstable phase, Kimmich said after center forward Harry Kane’s all-important penalty goal to make it 2-2: “Today we didn’t quite turn it around, but we can still feel that it’s difficult to win against us.”
Fatigue after a long year with the Club World Cup in the summer and due to the rather thin squad was not the reason, said Kimmich – as did coach Vincent Kompany. The team is “physically and mentally stable,” emphasized the coach. He’s not worried. “It would be bad if we didn’t create opportunities for ourselves. That wasn’t the case.”
Eight out of 13 goals conceded recently Standard situations
And yet: There are “always situations that we can defend better,” criticized Kimmich. Especially with standards. Eight of the 13 goals conceded in the eight games since Paris, of which Bayern only kept one clean sheet, resulted from dead balls (two penalties). “We have to do better,” demanded Kimmich, “and we have to allow fewer corners, free kicks or throw-ins.”
Especially Union Berlin, but not just Union Berlintook such a toll on the people of Munich. Nevertheless, Kimmich insists after the draw, which ultimately led to FCB even extending its lead in the table by one point due to the faltering competition: “When I look at the table, it looks pretty good. So it doesn’t feel so good at first because of course you have to win at home against the bottom of the table. That’s of course our goal too. But with a little distance I still have the feeling that we’re on the right track.” And despite the audible warning signals, both Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny currently agree.
In the video: FC Bayern Munich against FSV Mainz 05 – the highlights
League leadership and relegation battle, current fixtures, results and live ticker, top scorer lists, mileage and tackle statistics and much more: Football in the BR24Sport results center.
Source: BR24Sport on the radio December 15, 2025 – 11:54 a.m
