The 05ers suffered a heavy defeat away at FC Bayern München on Saturday afternoon. Bo Henriksen’s side made it far too easy for the hosts to fill their boots, with Mainz eventually falling to an 8-1 loss. After going two goals behind early on, Nadiem Amiri gave his side brief hope, but Harry Kane, who scored a hat-trick, restored Bayern’s two-goal advantage in the dying seconds of the first half. The champions put the game out of sight between the 60th and 70th minute, meaning that the closing stages became all about preventing further goals for the 05ers. Leon Goretzka wrapped things up with his second goal of the game in additional time, whilst Thomas Müller, Jamal Musiala and Serge Gnabry were all on the scoresheet.
Bo Henriksen made two changes to his starting eleven from the draw against Gladbach. Anthony Caci and Tom Krauß came into the side in place of Dominik Kohr and Leandro Barreiro, who were both suspended.
FSV naive, Bayern clinical
It took just 20 seconds for FSV to combine neatly down the right-hand side, with Jae-sung Lee’s precise cross finding Phillipp Mwene at the back post, but he was unable to pick anyone out in the centre with his ball into the box (1’). Mainz’s head coach explained before the game that he wanted his side to play bravely, but they perhaps played too bravely. The hosts took control in the following stages and quickly won their first two corners of the game, however nothing came from these set pieces. The hosts had control of the ball, with the 05ers only rarely enjoying spells of possession of their own early on. Robin Zentner was called into action for the first time in the eighth minute as he punched a sharp ball into the box from Leroy Sané to safety. However, the 05ers’ goalkeeper was powerless to intervene five minutes later when the hosts took the lead as they gratefully accepted an invitation from the visitors. The ball found its way to Manuel Neuer from a Mainz corner, with the Bayern goalkeeper setting Müller away with a long kick. Müller then found Musiala in the centre, with the 21-year-old lifting his head up and setting Kane up for his 28th Bundesliga goal with a lovely square ball – the Englishman just had to tap the ball over the line from close range (13’). Bayern were back on the attack just a minute later, but Zentner was able to deny Kane on this occasion, with the striker unleashing a first-time shot from Sané’s lay-off, but his effort was too central. The bottom line is that it was made far too easy for the hosts in the opening stages of the game. Mainz switched off after Bayern were awarded a free kick on the right flank, whilst Joshua Kimmich reacted quickly and picked out the unmarked Kane in the centre of the box. His header came back off the post, but the rebound fell to Goretzka, who slotted home to make it 2-0. It was a difficult start to the game, but Mainz went very close to finding an immediate response two minutes later. Amiri played a free kick from the right-hand side into the box, with the completely unmarked Josuha Guilavogui inches away from getting something on his delivery and finding a way back into the game for his team (21’). At the other end of the pitch, Joshua Kimmich had the chance to put the game to bed after half an hour, but he was unable to provide Bayern’s third goal after combining with Goretzka as his shot went narrowly wide (27’).
After 30 minutes there was little to indicate that Mainz would find a way back into the game considering their disastrous start to the game. That was at least until Nadiem Amiri took it up upon himself and fired an absolute beauty into Neuer’s top corner from 25 yards following Brajan Gruda’s smartly taken indirect free kick (31’). FSV were back in the game again, but they were to receive another shock two minutes later: Guilavogui was left dazed on the ground following a collision with Caci, but he was able to stand up again shortly afterwards and leave the pitch unassisted. However, he was unable to continue, with Edimilson Fernandes taking his place. The game lost its rhythm following this interruption and very little happened until shortly before the start of seven minutes of additional time at the end of the first half. However, both sides had chances to score another goal in the following minutes. First, Zentner was able to deal with a dangerous cross from Kimmich (44’), before Gruda set off on a wonderful solo run and narrowly missed out on his second Bundesliga goal from ten yards, with the ball going over the crossbar (45+2’). At the other end, van den Berg kept out a Müller header with an incredible last-ditch header just two minutes later. Everything pointed towards Bayern going into the break with just a narrow lead, but the hosts were to have the final say of the half. Goretzka found Kane with a lofted ball from the centre of the pitch, with the striker taking the ball down, turning sharply and leaving Zentner with no chance – the hosts took a 3-1 lead with the last move of the half.
An early setback after the break, then the floodgates open
The second half began how the first half ended: Guerreiro picked out Musiala in the penalty area, who lost his man with a sharp turn and found Müller at the back post, with the veteran wrapping the game up for Bayern from close range – 4-1 (47’). Despite that, Mainz went close to finding a second goal just eight minutes later. Amiri played the ball to Gruda just outside the penalty area, where the academy graduate took aim from 18 yards, but his shot went inches wide of the post (56’). It was the start of a short phase which belonged to the visitors as they went in search of a second goal. First, a deflected effort from Mwene failed to hit the target (59’), before Widmer’s effort from long range went narrowly wide (60’). However, Tuchel’s side were never in any danger of relinquishing their lead, especially given how clinical they were in front of goal throughout the game. Kane switched the play with a wonderful ball on the counterattack, with Musiala then sitting Widmer down and making it 5-1 from eleven yards (61’). The 05ers were totally overrun in the following minutes. First, the recently introduced Gnabry turned home a Goretzka cross (66’), and Kane then grabbed another when he tapped home after Zentner had produced a stunning save from Eric Dier’s header (70’). At this point, it was all about damage limitation for FSV, with Ludovic Ajorque and Marco Richter coming on in place of Jonny Burkardt and Lee. Andreas Hanche-Olsen then made his comeback from injury (replaced Gruda) after 76 minutes, whilst Danny da Costa came on for Krauß.
Not a lot more happened on the pitch as Bayern took their foot off the gas in the closing stages. Nevertheless, Goretzka added another in injury time when he slotted home from Gnabry’s cross. Mainz suffered the worst defeat in their Bundesliga history, but they have the chance to bounce back next Saturday afternoon (15:30 CET) when they take on VfL Bochum at the MEWA ARENA.
BAYERN MÜNCHEN 8-1 MAINZ 05
FCB: Neuer - Kimmich, de Ligt, Dier (75’ Kim), Davies (18’ Guerreiro) - Goretzka, Laimer, Sané (62’ Gnabry), Müller (62’ Tel), Musiala (75’ Zaragoza) - Kane
FSV: Zentner - Widmer, van den Berg, Guilavogui (35’ Edimilson), Caci, Mwene - Krauß (76’ da Costa), Amiri - Lee (65’ Richter), Gruda (76’ Hanche-Olsen), Burkardt (65’ Ajorque)
Goals: 1-0 Kane (13’), 2-0 Goretzka (19’), 2-1 Amiri (31’), 3-1 Kane (45+7’), 4-1 Müller (47’), 5-1 Musiala (61’), 6-1 Gnabry, 7-1 Kane (70’), 8-1 Goretzka (90+3’)
Attendance: 75,000
Officials: Patrick Ittrich (Sascha Thielert, Thomas Gorniak, Alexander Sather, Katrin Rafalski)