BERLIN (AP) — Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich overcame a scare before facing Paris Saint-Germain after fighting back from a three-goal deficit to beat Mainz 4-3 and boost morale on Saturday.
Bayern traveled to Paris for the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday and arrived in Mainz in good spirits after the game. win the Bundesliga Last weekend, we made it to the German Cup final. Win against Bayer Leverkusen on wednesday.
But Mainz took a deserved 3-0 lead at half-time against Bayern, who had a heavy rotation with Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala and Michael Oliseh all on the bench.
18-year-old Bala Sapoko Ndiayi made his first start for Bayern.
Mainz’s goals were scored by Dominic Cole, Paul Knebel and Sherald Becker.
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany brought on Kane and Oliseh for Luis Diaz and Aleksandar Pavlovic at half-time, and all four are likely to start against PSG.
Nicholas Jackson pulled one back in the 53rd minute, and Oliseh fired a brilliant shot inside the far post in the 73rd minute. Musiala equalized in the 81st minute.
Daniel Butts saved Musiala’s shot before Kane scored the winning goal from the rebound two minutes later.
This is the second time Bayern have recovered from a three-goal deficit at half-time to record a Bundesliga victory. The last time they played was in 1976, when they won 6-5 against Bochum.
heidenheim hope
Bottom-placed Heidenheim avoided relegation with a 2-0 victory over relegation rivals St. Pauli.
An early goal from Budou Zivzivadze and a late goal from Eren Dinkci kept Heidenheim’s hopes of survival alive with three rounds remaining.
Wolfsburg, second to last, drew 0-0 at home with Borussia Mönchengladbach, unable to capitalize on the loss in St. Pauli.
Cologne were still in crisis after losing 2-1 at home to Leverkusen in the Rhine derby.
Cologne were just five points ahead of St. Pauli in the relegation play-off places, while Wolfsburg were one point behind St. Pauli and Heidenheim a further three points behind. St. Pauli will host Wolfsburg on the final day of the match.
The bottom two teams will be automatically relegated, and the team in third place from the bottom will face a two-legged playoff against the team in third place in the second division to determine their place in next season’s Bundesliga.
Leverkusen’s victory increased their lead over fourth-placed Stuttgart to one point ahead of Sunday’s match against visiting Werder Bremen.
Also on Saturday, Eintracht Frankfurt drew 1-1 with Augsburg.
Hamburger SV then hosted Hoffenheim.
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