Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann praised his “fun to watch” side as they recaptured top of the table with a dominant 6-2 home defeat to Mainz. “It’s a lot of fun to watch them. (We are) a great mix of quality and configuration,” said Nagelsmann. “Big congratulations (to the team). It’s unbelievable at the moment.” The superb performances of forwards Jamal Musiala and Sadio Mane gave them a two-point lead over Bayern, the first time they have led the Bundesliga since August.
Serge Gnabry opened the scoring after six minutes thanks to an assist from Mane, while teenager Musiala scored his seventh league goal of the season in the 28th minute.
Mainz centre-back Alexander Hack made a mistake on Mane in the penalty area after 40 minutes. The former Liverpool striker took the penalty and while goalkeeper Robin Zentner saved his shot, the Senegalese jumped in the rebound to give Bayern a 3-0 lead.
Mainz, who missed a 45th-minute penalty, had a glimmer of hope for halftime when Silvan Widmer headed in from a corner, but Bayern midfielder Leon Goretzka scored in the 58th minute from a Mane cross to give Bayern an unassailable 4 -1 lead.
French striker Mathys Tel (17) and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored goals for Bayern late, while Mainz’s Marcus Ingvartsen stumbled on a mistake by Munich goalkeeper Sven Ulreich to leave the final score at 6-2.
Mainz manager Bo Svensson congratulated Nagelsmann and Bayern “on a well-deserved win”, but was deeply unhappy with his own side. “We missed everything. I didn’t like what I saw in the second half.”
Bayern have now won six games in a row and scored 25 goals since their last-minute 2-2 draw with Dortmund in early October.
Leipzig remains in position
Elsewhere, goals from Christopher Nkunku and Timo Werner pushed Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 home to within easy reach of the top four.
Leverkusen has now won just one in six since former Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso took over as manager.
Wolfsburg beat an unlucky Bochum 4-0 at home in the Wolves’ most dominant performance since the takeover by former Bayern manager Niko Kovac in the summer.
In Saturday afternoon’s other game, Stuttgart climbed out of the bottom three with a 2-1 win over Augsburg, thanks to an injury time winner from Waldemar Anton.
The win was Stuttgart’s third in four games since the sacking of American manager Pellegrino Matarazzo.
promoted
In Saturday’s late game, Dortmund travels to Eintracht Frankfurt.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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