The difference between playing twice a week and a three-week break became horribly evident on Sunday, as lively and fresh Mainz, whose most recent match was on 4 November, just shaded a see-saw encounter with battling but patently tired Bayern, who played three games and had a dozen men away on international duty in the intervening period.
The 34,000 full house at the new Coface Arena saw FCB, sporting an unfamiliar kit of white shirts and dark blue shorts, fall behind to an 11th-minute Andreas Ivanschitz strike. Jupp Heynckes’ men weathered the storm and upped the pressure as the first half wore on, but the early goal separated the sides at the interval.
The visitors went on the attack after the restart and Daniel van Buyten levelled with a near-post header, but just as Bayern appeared to have gained the upper hand, Marco Caligiuri restored the home side’s lead from long range, and Niko Bungert made it 3-1 with a quarter-hour to play. Van Buyten netted again to set up a furious finish, but the home side's luck held and Bayern were condemned to a fourth league defeat of the season.
The result means FCB slip to third place in the Bundesliga after 14 matches on 28 points, one adrift of Dortmund and Mönchengladbach, and two ahead of Werder Bremen in fourth. Thomas Schaaf’s team provide the Bavarians’ next opposition at the Allianz Arena on Saturday 3 December, before Heynckes and Co complete their Champions League group stage fixtures away to Manchester City four days later.
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