Initial reactions and Observations

Bayern only have themselves to blame here. All those missed chances came back to bite them. Frustratingly bad, even terrible performance.Bayern once again undone by low blocks and set-pieces. This has been a thing (mainly inability to break down low blocks) for at least five years now and nothing has changed.Serge Gnabry has been poor, Lennart Karl has been great. Kim Min-jae and Josip Stanisic were poor for both goals; Manuel Neuer somehow poor in both. The midfielder that played 61 minutes was nonexistent. The referee was a joke. A lot of things went against Bayern’s way.Harry Kane once again rescues Bayern from dropping any more points.

That’s all, everyone. Bayern’s last match of the year is away to Heidenheim. See you then.

87’ — TOR! Harry Kane scores from a penalty!

73’ — Nicolas Jackson replaces Kim Min-jae.

68’ — This is Mainz’s only other chance and they’ve scored from it. This team is a joke.

62’ — Konrad Laimer, Alphonso Davies, and Aleksandar Pavlovic come on.

60’ — Gnabry fumbles his shot at the back post and it stays 1-1.

45’ — We go again in the second half.

Bayern was wasteful this half and almost paid for it. The club said they were going to deal with defending set-pieces better. What do they do? Concede from a set-piece. Fans want to see visible improvement not empty words.Lennart Karl is awesome, end of.One thing I noticed about Manuel Neuer is that he almost always never comes for the cross, and the joke has already worn thin. It’s not remotely funny anymore.

45+2’ — Bayern concede from yet ANOTHER free-kick.

39’ — This is an insane stat:

29’ — TOR! Lennart Karl scores after Serge Gnabry cuts the ball back on the goal line.

21’ — Harry Kane’s header somehow goes straight at the keeper and the ball stays out.

17’ — Bayern getting more chances but none have broken the deadlock.

6’ — Lennart Karl tries his luck from distance but Daniel Batz catches it comfortably.

Kickoff! — Here we gooooooo!

Lineups are out! Hiroki Ito and Tom Bischof start this match as the left half of the defensive line. Alphonso Davies starts on the bench again where he is joined by Cassiano Kiala.

The season’s winter break is nearly here, and Bayern Munich will take on basement boys Mainz in their penultimate match of the 2025 calendar year. The carnival team probably put three points in their Christmas wishlist because they’ve lost nine matches and won a single game and drew the other three at this point in time. Similarly, they should add luck on said list because taking down Bayern, regardless of the team they roll out, will need a Christmas miracle.

Let’s see what Bayern have on their wishlist; the board told us not to leak this, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a look inside:

Three pointsHarry Kane hat-trickAlphonso Davies minutesNew ankle for Jamal MusialaNico Schlotterbeck 2026Champions League trophy

Lots of interesting stuff in there, but not as interesting as their match today (hopefully from a Bayern perspective only). The Nullfünfer can and will try to take the win, but Bayern will simply stand firm and score a couple goals while they’re at it.

Prediction: Bayern wins 5-0

While waiting for the match, do consider listening to the latest episode of Bavarian Podcast Works! Find us over on Spotify! Alternatively, read the selected reads below:

Location: Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany

Date: Saturday, 14 December 2025

Time: 5:30 PM Local time | 11:30 AM EST | 8:30 AM PST

TV/streaming: ESPN+, Find Your Country

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