Bayern unpunished for shock loss as Leverkusen fall to defeat

A 10-man Bayern Munich went unpunished for a shock 3-2 home defeat to Bochum on Saturday after title chasers Bayer Leverkusen were beaten 2-0 by Werder Bremen.

Despite the loss, just Bayern’s second of the season, the Bavarians still hold an eight-point lead over defending champions Leverkusen with nine games to play.

Leverkusen’s woes were deepened with an injury to star midfielder Florian Wirtz, who limped off after a rough challenge having played just 14 second-half minutes.

With an eye on Tuesday’s return leg in the Champions League last 16 against Leverkusen, Bayern coach Vincent Kompany named a heavily changed XI, including leaving striker Harry Kane on the bench.

Bayern midfielder Raphael Guerreiro’s 14th minute goal, when the Portuguese hammered a loose ball into the net, had Bayern on track before Serge Gnabry missed a 21st-minute penalty.

With Kane, who has converted his past 30 penalties in a row, sitting on the bench, Gnabry stepped up but hit the ball against the post.

Guerreiro however scored again with a rare header on the 28-minute mark, just three minutes before Bochum’s Jakov Medic pulled one back with an unstoppable rocket.

Bochum were given hope when Bayern’s Joao Palhinha saw red for sinking his studs into Giorgos Masouras’s ankle just before half-time.

Ibrahima Sissoko headed Bochum level six minutes into the second half and Matus Bero put the underdogs in front 71 minutes in, going the length of the field to knock in a Philipp Hofmann pass.

Bochum’s surprise victory, their first win in Munich since 1991, took them three points clear of the automatic relegation placings.

Leverkusen were down after just seven minutes when Romano Schmid tapped in from close range.

With Leverkusen failing to click, coach Xabi Alonso brought Wirtz from the bench at halftime, but the Germany midfielder was brutally fouled eight minutes afterwards and limped from the field.

Any injury to Wirtz, the club’s talisman and best player this season, would be a serious blow to Alonso’s side, particularly ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League match against Bayern, who hold a 3-0 lead from the first leg.

Borussia Dortmund’s slim chances of reaching the top four took a hit with a 1-0 home loss to Augsburg, with Jeffery Gouweleeuw’s first half header the only goal in the game.

Dortmund were toothless in attack and offered little against an in-form Augsburg, who have conceded just three goals in the league in 2025 -- the best mark in Europe.

Dortmund, last season’s Champions League finalists, sit 10th in the league, seven points off the top four.

Elsewhere, St Pauli scored their first goal in five matches in a 1-1 draw at Wolfsburg, going two points clear of the relegation playoff spot.

Fellow promoted side Holstein Kiel also picked up a point with a hard-fought 2-2 home win over Stuttgart.

Earlier, Mainz climbed into third place in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday.

The result takes Bo Henriksen’s charges to 44 points, provisionally two ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt in fourth place.

Goals shortly before and after the half-time interval from Paul Nebel and Dominik Kohr put Mainz in the driving seat.

Stefan Lainer pulled one back for the hosts in the final 20 minutes but Nadiem Amiri swiftly restored Mainz’s two-goal lead to earn them their fourth league victory in their last five outings.

“It was a deserved win for us over 90 minutes,” Kohr told DAZN.

“We’re happy where we are. We have 44 points, what a feeling. The way we play football, we belong up there.”

Mainz boast a four-point buffer to Freiburg, who lie just outside the Champions League spots in fifth and face sixth-placed RB Leipzig.

With nine games to go, Mainz are seeking to earn European football for the first time since their 2016-17 group stage appearance in the Europa League.

And with Friday’s result, they firmly have their eyes set on reaching the continent’s top club competition for the very first time in their 120-year history.

Agencies