(Football news) Bayern Munich’s week went bad to worse after they slumped to a 3-1 loss against Mainz on Saturday as they conceded all three goals in a 14 minute period in their latest slip-up which could prove to be very costly in the race for the title with only five games left to go. Bayern were subsequently eliminated by Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday. Bayern started the match on the front foot as they could not have imagined a worse afternoon after they went 1-0 up courtesy of Sadio Mane’s 29th minute header.
Bayern who are chasing their record 11th straight league crown as they are currently on 59 points and one point behind new leaders Borussia Dortmund on 60 points as they got an emphatic 4-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt later on. The Bavarian Giants had more than 70% of possession but were unable to carve out any more chances. Bayern were punished for sloppy defending in the 65th minute after they failed to clear the ball as Ludovic Ajorque nodded in for the equaliser.
Another error by Josip Stanisic allowed Leandro Barreiro to score and put the hosts in front while the Bayern players and Thomas Tuchel looked in complete shock. The hosts put the final nail in the coffin when Aaron Martin rifled in their third goal in the 79th minute to make it 10 games without defeat for Mainz, who are enjoying one of the best seasons as they are now sixth in the standings. The defeat piles a lot of pressure on sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and club CEO Oliver Kahn, who have been criticised by the fans for sacking Julian Nagelsmann.
They claimed that Bayern’s season was at risk and they needed to act quickly but in three weeks under Tuchel they have been eliminated from all cup competitions and this was his third defeat in 7 matches for the former Champions League winner. They now risk missing out on the Bundesliga title while Nagelsmann was sacked for having lost three times in 37 games this season.
“We don’t feel any energy any more,” Tuchel said. “Too much has happened to this team and it struggles to bounce back when things don’t go its way.
“It is brutally difficult to develop a spirit as a team to fight back. We struggle to win matches. We had the game under control but did not score a second goal. We are not focused enough.”
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