Berlin: Bayern turned the tides against Mainz to recapture the lead in Bundesliga while Schalke and Dortmund wrapped up narrow wins in the ninth round.
Arjen Robben’s equaliser against Mainz initiated Bayern’s 4-1 comeback win at the outsold Allianz Arena on Saturday.
Mainz were able to hold the pace until the 50th minute but were unable to fight off the fifth loss of the season.
The courageous visitors kept the German giants at distance.
They were able to surprise Bayern with the opener just before the break.
Shawn Parker shocked the hosts when he rounded goalkeeper Manuel Neuer following a failed clearance attempt by Jerome Boateng.
The Bavarians piled on the pressure with beginning of the second half.
Robben was able to restore parity with a curl into the far post corner in the 50th minute.
Two minutes later, Bayern completed their comeback as Thomas Mueller finished a combination to beat Mainz keeper Christian Wetklo for the 2-1 lead.
Bayern’s quick comeback took the wind out of Mainz’ sails as Mario Mandzukic and Thomas Mueller were able to make it 4-1 on the scoreboards before the final whistle.
Elsewhere, Dortmund returned to winning ways with a narrow 2-1 victory over Hannover.
The ‘BVB’ broke the deadlock through Marco Reus, who converted a foul play penalty, just four minutes into the encounter.
Dortmund retracted to allow Hannover to gain a foothold into the match.
However, Hannover’s second half efforts remained fruitless against the passive hosts. Juergen Klopp’s men stay in second position, a point behind front runners Bayern.
Schalke’s Roman Neustaedter secured a late 3-2 triumph against Braunschweig in a see-saw match.
Newly promoted Braunschweig opened the scoring thanks to Orhand Ademi in the 20th minute.
Schalke recovered from the setback and levelled the scores through Max Meyer nine minutes later.
The Bundesliga newbies surprised Schalke when Karim Bellarabi made it 2-1 (59th).
But Schalke remained unimpressed as Leon Groetzka made it 2-2 (65th) before Roman Neustaedter scored the decider in the dying minutes.
Schalke recorded their fourth win to grab fifth place while Braunschweig suffered their seventh loss to sit in last position.
Frankfurt gave away a narrow 1-0 lead to share points with Nuremberg owing to the last grasp equaliser by Josip Drmic.
Berlin push forward to fourth as Adrian Ramos’ winning header against Monchengladbach was enough to grab three points on home soil.
Bremen and Freiburg shared point after a goalless and unspectacular tie. (IANS)