Bayern Munich suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Mainz yesterday, losing their 100 per cent home record this season, as their lead in the Bundesliga was trimmed to five points.
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Mainz added some excitement to the Bundesliga season by becoming the first team to win at the Allianz Arena this season, enabling second-placed Borussia Dortmund to narrow the gap on Bayern Munich to five points with a win at Darmstadt.
The top two meet on Saturday in a match where Dortmund could cut the margin to just two points and Guardiola said that history was against his side.
Franck Ribery’s first Bundesliga start in more than a year following an injury ordeal came as former Bayern president Uli Hoeness sat in the stands in the week of his release from prison, but the defending champions were far from their usual levels of creative brilliance.
Bayer Leverkusen fell to its third straight loss, Claudio Pizarro scoring a hat trick in the 4-1 win on the road for Werder Bremen. But Mainz remained calm and Cordoba got the victor.
It was another nicely worked goal, with the substitute collecting Julian Baumgartlinger’s pass to beat Manuel Neuer and end Bayern’s home victory streak at 15 in all competitions.
“We knew how we could win here with a strong defensive display and a good counter-attack”, said Mainz coach Martin Schmidt, who praised his side’s “outstanding display”.
Mainz is now fifth, equal on points with fourth-place Moenchengladbach.
Indeed, there appeared to be little on when Robben collected the ball 30 yards from goal and took aim to arrow a low drive beyond Karius.
A changed Borussia Dortmund line-up received praise from Thomas Tuchel after Adrian Ramos and Erik Durm scored in a win over Darmstadt.
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“We and Bayern both know that things can now be a bit tight”.
