Lee Jae-sung scored either side of the break as Mainz stunned Bayern Munich 2-1 on Saturday to end the league leaders’ unbeaten start as their advantage at the top was cut to four points.
Lee struck four minutes before the break, the South Korea international pouncing on a defensive blunder by the lacklustre visitors. The 32-year-old then doubled the hosts’ lead on the hour, turning beautifully in the box to finish a superb attacking move that left the Bayern defence frozen to the spot.
Mainz moved up to sixth after inflicting a first league loss on the Bayern head coach, Vincent Kompany. The Bavarian side, missing eight players to injury including top scorer Harry Kane, pulled back a goal through Leroy Sané in the 87th minute but could not find an equaliser.
“We played against a team with a lot of life and spirit and they were prepared to fight for every moment,” Kompany said. “From our side there was not a lack of fighting. We did that to the best of our ability. Today we were not at our best.”
The defending champions, Bayer Leverkusen, eased past hosts Augsburg 2-0 to climb into second place. Xabi Alonso’s side struck twice in the first half through Martin Terrier’s stab home and Florian Wirtz’s low drive, to earn their seventh straight victory in all competitions.
Xabi Alonso, the Leverkusen coach, said: “This win is good for us. The next match, that is our only focus. The table in December is not something that is so important. More important is the way we played. For anything else it is still too early.”
Eintracht Frankfurt would trim Bayern’s lead to three points with victory on Sunday at fourth-placed RB Leipzig.
In La Liga, Real Madrid paid for defensive mistakes as they were held to a 3-3 draw at Rayo Vallecano, missing the chance to move above leaders Barcelona.
Rayo stunned the champions with an early header by Unai López after four minutes and grabbed a two-goal lead in similar fashion when Abdul Mumin nodded home from a corner in the 36th.
A thunderous Federico Valverde strike from long range put Real back in the game three minutes later. Jude Bellingham then scored for the sixth successive league game, netting a first-time effort from inside the box to level the scores just before the break.
Rodrygo gave Real the lead with a deflected strike from the edge of the area in the 56th minute. Manager Carlo Ancelotti, who was missing the injured Kylian Mbappé, brought on Vinicius Jr to provide a spark and Augusto Batalla made a fine save to deny him, with Arda Guler having a goal ruled out for offside.
Real looked in control and appealed for a penalty for a foul on Vinicius which was waved away before Rayo stunned them again when Isi Palazón moved between defenders Antonio Rüdiger and Aurélien Tchouaméni to deflect a cross into the net and secure the hosts a valuable point.
Ancelotti’s side tried to push for the win but Batalla denied efforts from Vinicius and substitute Endrick, with Rüdiger missing a clear chance late on as Real had to settle for a draw that could prove costly in the title race. After 17 games, they are a point behind Barcelona, who play struggling Leganes on Sunday.
Ten-man Mallorca came from a goal down to secure a 2-1 win against Girona with forward Cyle Larin scoring both goals for the hosts.
Donny van de Beek gave Girona an early lead before Mallorca levelled through Larin in the 20th minute after a counterattack. The home side were reduced to 10 men after the half-hour mark when striker Vedat Muriqi was sent off for a foul on Bryan Gil but Larin grabbed the winner for Mallorca after the break.
In Serie A, Atalanta set a club record with the leaders’ 10th consecutive league win as they beat Cagliari 1-0 in Sardinia thanks to Nicolò Zaniolo’s winner off the bench. Cagliari were the better side in the first half but the Atalanta keeper Marco Carnesecchi kept the game scoreless with several fine saves.
The visitors improved after the break and broke the deadlock through Zaniolo in the 66th minute, as he turned home Raoul Bellanova’s low cross two minutes after coming on. Ademola Lookman then hit a post after a mazy run and shot, before Carnesecchi produced another late save to secure victory.
Juventus salvaged a 2-2 draw at home to struggling Venezia after Dusan Vlahovic converted a last-second penalty.
With the hosts heading towards their first league defeat of the campaign, they got lucky when the ball struck Venezia defender Antonio Candela’s arm in the final moments, allowing Vlahovic to equalise from the penalty spot and secure their 10th draw and fourth in a row this term.
Federico Gatti broke the deadlock for Juve after 19 minutes when a corner was flicked on towards the far post where he was left unmarked and tapped in. Venezia levelled just after the hour mark when Mikael Egill Ellertsson headed in and then shocked the home fans seven minutes from time when Jay Idzes nodded in from a free-kick.
Napoli fought back to claim a 3-1 victory at Udinese on Saturday, with a pair of late goals ensuring they stayed within two points of Atalanta. The teams were level at 1-1 until 14 minutes from time when a hurried clearance from Udinese’s Lautaro Giannetti found his own net before Napoli’s Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa sealed the win with a low shot five minutes later.
